Inmarsat-4 F3 is a communications

I-4 satellite The Inmarsat-4 satellites, or I-4 satellites are a satellite constellation operated by Inmarsat. They provide the Inmarsat BGAN, FleetBroadband, and SwiftBroadband communications networks. They operate on the L band everywhere on Earth ...

operated by the British satellite operator

Inmarsat Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...

. It was launched into a

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

at 22:43 GMT on 18 August 2008, by a

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet Union, Soviet-developed Proton (rocket family), Proton. It is built by Khrunichev State R ...

Briz-M The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M ( meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M and Angara A5. T ...

Enhanced

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

. It is currently located at 97.65° West longitude, providing coverage of the Americas. It entered service on 7 January 2009. Like the earlier

Inmarsat-4 F1 Inmarsat-4 F1 is a communications I-4 satellite operated by the British satellite operator Inmarsat. It was launched into a geosynchronous orbit at 21:42 GMT on 11 March 2005 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. By an Atlas V in ...

and F2 satellites, Inmarsat-4 F3 was constructed by

EADS Astrium Astrium was a European aerospace company and subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), headquartered in Paris. It designed, developed and manufactured civil and military space systems and provided related services ...

, using a

Eurostar E3000 The Eurostar E3000 is a generic satellite model most commonly used for commercial and military communications satellites manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium). It is a member of Airbus Defence and Space's Eurostar family. I ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

. It has a mass of 5,960 kilograms, and is expected to operate for 13 years. It was originally slated for launch using an

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...

531, but was transferred to Proton due to a large backlog of Atlas launches. In the United States, Inmarsat ground stations are licensed to operate at 1525-1559 MHz and 1626.5-1660.5 MHz. The 1544-1545 MHz and 1645.5-1646.5 MHz bands are reserved for safety and distress communications.

References

External links

*http://www.inmarsat.com/corporate/our-satellites/index.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20120927021531/http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q4/nr_051108s.html *http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/aa_inmarsat/index.html {{Orbital launches in 2008 Spacecraft launched in 2008 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the Eurostar bus Inmarsat satellites