PONTE
VEDRA, Fla. - 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.
Inmarsat,
whose stock is traded on the London Stock Exchange, had been under close
investor scrutiny following its decision to
be the first customer for the ILS Proton Breeze M rocket after the March
failure, which left a commercial satellite in a useless orbit. Inmarsat Chief Executive
Andrew Sukawaty told investors Aug. 6 that the Inmarsat 4 F3 launch was fully
insured and that the two operational Inmarsat 4 spacecraft covered the world's
land areas sufficiently well to assure continued service even if aeronautical
and maritime coverage growth depended on the third satellite being in orbit.
Sukawaty
also said Inmarsat, which has ordered a large new satellite design, called
Alphasat, from Astrium Satellites for launch in 2012, could use Alphasat to
replace the third Inmarsat 4 in the event of a launch failure.
Reston,
Va.-based ILS is majority-owned by Khrunichev State Research and Production
Space Center of Moscow, which is the prime contractor for the Proton Breeze M
rocket. The company has an active launch schedule for the coming months, as do
its two principal competitors in the commercial launch industry, the
Arianespace consortium of Evry, France, and Sea Launch Co. of Long Beach,
Calif.
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