The Director General is pleased to inform IMSO Member States that, on 1 February 2015, Inmarsat successfully launched the second satellite of its fifth generation series, as part of its Global Xpress fleet. Further information is to be found on the public area of Inmarsat’s website – http://www.inmarsat.com – including video coverage of the launch of the Proton M launch vehicle which carried the I-5 F2 satellite – which blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Inmarsat informs us that Global Xpress “introduces a new era in seamless, globally available, high-speed satellite broadband communications on land, at sea, and in the air. Once operational, following extensive in-orbit and live service testing, I-5 F2 will deliver Global Xpress services to the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean Region, complementing Inmarsat-5 F1 coverage in the Indian Ocean Region. The third satellite in the constellation is scheduled for launch early in 2015, enabling the Global Xpress network to become globally available – expected early in the second half of this year.”