Jane Edwards
The fourth Boeing-built broadband communications satellite launched into space Monday to join Inmarsat’s Global Xpress satellite communications network.
The Inmarsat-5 F4 satellite took off aboard a SpaceX-made Falcon 9 rocket at 7:21 p.m. Eastern time from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and transmitted telemetry data to a ground station in Perth, Western Australia, Inmarsat said Tuesday.
The launch team has begun to maneuver the satellite to a geostationary orbit to facilitate the deployment of reflectors and solar arrays as well as payload testing operations.
Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said the new satellite seeks to build up the GX network’s capabilities to provide global connectivity to government and industry clients worldwide.
I-5 F4 will join three other satellites as part of the GX network that works to provide Ka-band broadband communications services to users across maritime, aerial and ground domains.
The launch of the new spacecraft came nearly two years after the third Inmarsat-5 satellite took off and entered orbit.
