PARIS — Mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat of London will launch all three of its next-generation satellites on International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rockets under a contract the companies announced Aug. 1.
The launches of the satellites, each expected to weigh about 6,300 kilograms, will occur on three separate Proton liftoffs scheduled between 2013 and 2014. The three satellites, carrying a Ka-band payload using both civil and military frequencies, are under construction by Boeing Satellite Systems International of El Segundo, Calif.
The spacecraft, to be stationed about 120 degrees apart from each other on the geostationary-orbit arc 36,000 kilometers above the equator, will provide Inmarsat’s Global Xpress mobile-broadband service for maritime, aeronautical and land-based users.
The launches will occur from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Reston, Va.-based ILS is owned by Russia’s state-owned Khrunichev Space Center, which is prime contractor for the Proton rocket.
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