Illustration credit: Inmarsat
Inmarsat’s newest and most powerful geostationary satellite to date has entered into commercial service, the company announced today.
Inmarsat said that the introduction of its GX5 satellite will provide additional capacity to Europe and the Middle East on the company’s industry-leading Fleet Xpress (GX) Ka-band high-speed satellite broadband service designed for the maritime industry.
The GX5 becomes Inmarsat’s fourtheenth satellite in service and the fifth in the GX fleet. Launched in November 2019, it can deliver approximately double the combined capacity of the entire existing GX satellites.
Inmarsat’s technology roadmap will see an additional seven launches by 2024, including five in geostationary orbit and two in highly elliptical orbit, providing commercial mobile broadband service in the commercially and strategically critical Arctic region.
Early next year, Inmarsat will celebrate the fifth anniversary of its GX service, the first and currently only globally available high-speed mobile broadband network delivered by a single operator. With tens of thousands of active users throughout the aviation, maritime, enterprise and government sectors, the company describes the GX network as the most successful service launch in its history.
“As the world leader in global mobile satellite communications, we have an ambitious vision for the future and we are progressing the most innovative technology development programme in our history to achieve this,” said Rupert Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of Inmarsat. “During these recent unprecedented circumstances, we have supported our partners and customers with the speed and agility for which Inmarsat has become known globally. We are in this for the long haul, with customer and partner trust based on four-decades of meeting our commitments and a bright future ahead, guided by our technology roadmap. Entry into service of GX5 is the first of several exciting steps ahead for us on that journey.”
Looking ahead, the company has plans for launching its two sixth generation satellites, called the I-6s, before moving onto GX7, 8 and 9, plus two additional Arctic payloads to further add to the GX network.
“Inmarsat is investing more than ever before to deliver global, highly differentiated technology platforms on which partners & customers can securely invest & innovate for growth,” said Peter Hadinger, Chief Technology Officer of Inmarsat.
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