On Friday, 28 August 2015 at 12:44 BST, the Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3) satellite was launched on schedule from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. I-5 F3 is the third satellite that will make up Inmarsat’s Global Xpress fleet.
Reserve your Pass For Ship Efficiency: The Event 2015 here
Over the coming weeks, the Inmarsat Operations Team will raise I-5 F3 to its final orbit, deploy its solar arrays and reflectors, and undertake payload testing. Once operational, following extensive in-orbit and live service testing, I-5 F3 will be ready to join the first two GX satellites. Together, the three satellites will power the world’s first globally available, Ka-band, high-speed broadband network connectivity service from a single, trusted operator – whether on land, at sea or in the air.
The first Global Xpress satellite – Inmarsat-5 F1 – was launched in December 2013 and entered commercial service in July 2014, covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This was followed by the launch of Inmarsat-5 F2 in February 2015, which covers the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean and entered commercial service in August.
“This is the end of a journey that began in late 2009 as we began to conceive the idea of Global Xpress which led to the satellite procurement,” commented Inmarsat CEO, Rupert Pearce. “Now our attention turns increasingly to turning GX into a service reality and turning the promise of GX into revenues and growth and profit.”
He added: “Today is a moment when we all very briefly touched space, felt the incredible reality of what we do every day. So let’s hang on to that moment and remember that today was the day when Global Xpress truly became a reality.”
