Campaigns

Launch Campaigns
Atlantic Bird I
Inmarsat 4 FM2
Integral
Japan Service 1
Amos II
Rocsat II

Launch Campaign: Inmarsat 4 Sea Launch.

Astrium Lampoldshausen Team - satellite check-out, propellant loading and launch support services

Inmarsat 4   Sea Launch Odyssey Platform, Long Beach, USA

On 08-Nov-2005, the Sea Launch Company successfully delivered an Inmarsat 4 communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

The heaviest communication satellite ever, Inmarsat 4 FM-2 was launched from the Odyssey Launch Platform using a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle. The Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 5,958 kg (13,108 lb) satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position of 53 degrees West Longitude, in readiness for its 13 year life

This was the second in a series of three Inmarsat 4 satellites built by EADS Astrium and are designed to deliver Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service that will bring seamless mobile voice and broadband Internet connectivity around the world.

By providing telephony, data and high speed Internet access to laptop and palm-sized terminals, they enable business travellers, disaster relief workers, field based oil researchers, journalists, etc to operate a virtual office anywhere in the satellite footprint, including on maritime or air routes.

Each satellite can digitally form more than 200 spot beams. More power and spectrum can be allocated to certain beams to cope with the fluctuations in traffic. An on-board digital signal processor routes the signals to the different beams, acting like a switchboard in the sky: any signal uplink can be routed to any mobile downlink beam and vice versa.

All three satellites are identical and interchangeable – their coverage is programmable and can be reconfigured in orbit. They are based on the E3000 version of EADS SPACE's outstandly successful Eurostar satellite platform series, and equipped with an electric and chemical propulsion system.

Their 45m-long solar array generates 14 kW of electrical power at beginning of life and the spacecraft weighs approximately 5,950 kg at launch. The main body is 7 metres high and the unfurlable antenna reflector has a diameter of about 10 metres.

Launch Preparation
A joint EADS Space Transportation/Astrium team participated in the launch preparation activities consisting of final testing of the electric and chemical propulsion systems and the satellite fuelling at the Sea Launch Homeport facilities at Long Beach, USA.

Inmarsat 4 Launch Preparation

Inmarsat 4 Launch Preparation

Astrium Launch Preparation Team

Sea Launch of Inmarsat 4 aboard the Zenit-3SL

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