PONTEVEDRA, Fla. - The third and last Inmarsat 4 mobile-broadband satellite wassuccessfully placed into orbit Tuesday by an International Launch Services(ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket, ILS and Inmarsat announced.
Thelaunch completed a decade-long, $1.5 billion investment by London-basedInmarsat and returned ILS to commercial service fivemonths after a failure that forced a redesign of the Proton Breeze M upperstage.
Operatingthree satellites in geostationary orbit will permit Inmarsat to offer broadbanddata and hand-held telephone access globally, except for the polar regions. Thetwo previously launched Inmarsat 4 satellites, in orbit since March and November2005, have provided services to 85 percent of the Earth's land mass buthave left broad coverage gaps in the Pacific Ocean region.
Inmarsat,whose stock is traded on the London Stock Exchange, had been under closeinvestor scrutiny following its decision tobe the first customer for the ILS Proton Breeze M rocket after the Marchfailure, which left a commercial satellite in a useless orbit. Inmarsat Chief ExecutiveAndrew Sukawaty told investors Aug. 6 that the Inmarsat 4 F3 launch was fullyinsured and that the two operational Inmarsat 4 spacecraft covered the world'sland areas sufficiently well to assure continued service even if aeronauticaland maritime coverage growth depended on the third satellite being in orbit.
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