At the Paris Air Show today, Jean-Marie Luton,
Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Michael Storey, CEO and President of
Inmarsat Ventures plc., signed a letter of intent for a launch services
contract for at least one of the Inmarsat I-4 communications satellites.
An Ariane 5 launch for Inmarsat 4
The Inmarsat I-4 satellites under negotiation with Arianespace would be
launched by Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in
Kourou, French Guiana, during 2003/2004.
Arianespace has already orbited five satellites for Inmarsat, a global
operator offering mobile satellite communication solutions.
Inmarsat 4, the 6-ton generation
Each Inmarsat 4 satellites will weigh more than 6 metric tons at liftoff.
Built by Astrium, they will allow Inmarsat to deliver a Broadband Global
Area Network (B-GAN) solution with data rates of up to 432 kbits/s.
With the Ariane 5 launcher, Arianespace now offers a proven and unmatched
payload capacity of well over 6 tons for the commercial launch market.
