Inmarsat-5 F2 Arrives at Launch Site in Kazakhstan

Inmarsat’s second Global Xpress (GX) satellite – Inmarsat-5 F2 – has arrived at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ahead of its launch scheduled for early-2015.

The satellite left the Boeing El Segundo facility on 16 December, and was flown from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Kazakhstan in an Antonov AN-124 heavy transporter.

Inmarsat-5 F2 is the second of three satellites that will form Inmarsat’s GX fleet, providing high-speed broadband services on land, sea and in the air. When in orbit, Inmarsat-5 F2 will cover the Americas and the Atlantic ocean region.

The first GX satellite - Inmarsat-5 F1 - was launched at the end of 2013 and began delivering regional commercial services over Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia in July 2014.

The third GX satellite - Inmarsat-5 F3 – has completed its final testing and is now ready for shipping to Kazakhstan in early 2015. F3 will complete the Global Xpress constellation by providing coverage over the Pacific Ocean Region.

GX is scheduled to commence global commercial services early in the second half of 2015.

“The arrival of Inmarsat-5 F2 to the launch site in Baikonur demonstrates that we will be able to offer our high-speed Ka-band service, GX Aviation, early in the second half of 2015,” said Leo Mondale, President, Inmarsat Aviation. “The ground networks are in place and Honeywell will start transmission testing of the airborne satellite communications equipment imminently – we’re right on track to deliver this world-leading global network to our partners and airlines.”