On August 19 2008 Inmarsat finally succeeded together with their launch partner ILS, to successfully launch their third Inmarsat I-4 satellite. The satellite was launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:43pm BST on 18 August (4:43am 19th August, local time). Inmarsat's tracking station in Fucino, Italy was able to track the satellite while it was still coupled to the Breeze M launch vehicle. Launch provider ILS confirmed successful spacecraft separation at 8:46am BST on 19 August.

The Inmarsat-4s are the world's most sophisticated commercial network for mobile voice and data services, and the successful launch of the third I-4 allows Radio Holland to complete the global coverage for our broadband services. Once the third I-4 is operational, Inmarsat will have the only fully-funded next-generation network for mobile satellite services.

The Proton Breeze M is one of the few launch vehicles capable of lifting the I-4 satellite - the size of a London double-decker bus and weighing six tons - into geostationary transfer orbit. The I-4 F3 satellite will now undergo a period of deployment and several weeks of comprehensive tests and manoeuvres before being positioned in geostationary orbit at 98º West.

Repositioning of Inmarsat I-4 satellites

Following the successful launch of the third Inmarsat I-4 satellite, Inmarsat announced the repositioning of their I-4 satellites. The repositioning will start after the finishing the in-orbit testing of the F3 satellite. The result of the repositioning process will be better coverage for maritime and landmobile users and the creation of three new regions:

• Americas
• EMEA
• Asia-Pacific

Unfortunately, 2 outages will occur during the reposition period. These outages will effect BGAN and FleetBroadband users in specific locations (Inmarsat GAN/M4 will not be affected) information about outages will be published on the inmarsat wensite (www.inmarsat.com).

More info: info@rhconnect.com