Fergie's Tech Blog

Russian Rocket Launches New Communications Satellite

Peter B. de Selding writes on Space.com:

The third and last Inmarsat 4 mobile-broadband satellite was successfully placed into orbit Tuesday by an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket, ILS and Inmarsat announced.

The launch completed a decade-long, $1.5 billion investment by London-based Inmarsat and returned ILS to commercial service five months after a failure that forced a redesign of the Proton Breeze M upper stage.

The 13,139-pound (5,960-kg) Inmarsat 4 F3 satellite will be operated from 98 degrees west. Once its operations begin there, the two other Inmarsat 4 satellites will be moved to new orbital slots to optimize global broadband data services from the three-satellite system. Moving these two satellites will cause partial shutdowns of Inmarsat broadband services for a five-week period as the Inmarsat 4 F2 is moved from 53 degrees west to 25 degrees west, and then for a three-week period during the relocation of Inmarsat 4 F1 from 64 degrees east to 143.5 degrees east.

Operating three satellites in geostationary orbit will permit Inmarsat to offer broadband data and hand-held telephone access globally, except for the polar regions. The two previously launched Inmarsat 4 satellites, in orbit since March and November 2005, have provided services to 85 percent of the Earth's land mass but have left broad coverage gaps in the Pacific Ocean region.

posted by Fergie @ 8/19/2008 10:17:00 PM