Inmarsat has received formal confirmation from their launch partner, Arianespace, that the company’s GX5 satellite will be launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Friday, November 22, 2019 — the launch window is between 21:08 and 22:43 UK time / UTC.
The expected mission time of the Ariane 5 rocket is 34 minutes, 14 seconds, with separation of the 4,007 kg. GX5 satellite the final step at approximately 34 minutes, 7 seconds after launch.
Artistic rendition of the Inmarsat GX5 satellite.
Global Xpress (GX) is the most successful service launch in the history of Inmarsat and GX5 is the most advanced satellite in the Global Xpress (GX) fleet.
In less than four years, GX has become globally available and offers mobile broadband services across multiple industry sectors with thousands of active users throughout the aviation, maritime and government sectors. GX5 represents a significant for Inmarsat’s global broadband service and will cover the Middle East regions as well as L- and Ka-band, and S-band in Europe.
Peter Hadinger, CTO, Inmarsat, said that all at Inmarsat are excited at the prospect of the launch of GX5 next week, an important step in the continued expansion of the Global Xpress network as the first of eight advanced GX payloads to launch over the next four years. GX5 represents a further leap forward technologically and will deliver significantly more capacity to customers in Europe and the Middle East. Together with partners at Thales Alenia Space and Arianespace, we look forward to the launch from Kourou, marking the completion of an exemplary technology partnership between our companies as well as the beginning of a new era for the world’s only globally-available, true mobile broadband service.”
GX5 and the forthcoming seven additional GX satellites, planned for launch in the coming four years, further extend Inmarsat’s global leadership in true broadband services, which is supported by the company’s network of leading technology, manufacturing and channel partners.
GX5 demonstrates Inmarsat’s investment in continued innovation, service growth, availability, reliability and quality for its customers and partners. The new satellite is significantly more powerful than any previous GX satellite, providing more capacity than the existing four GX satellites already in service combined, is 25 percent smaller and was delivered much more quickly, in just two and a half years from order to launch.
