Inmarsat and ILS set august 14th for proton flight with inmarsat satellite
Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today announced that International Launch Services (ILS) has scheduled its next Proton Breeze M commercial mission for 14th August (13th August GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the launch of the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite.
The satellite is scheduled to be shipped to Baikonur in early July for a six-week launch programme. The satellite, an EADS Astrium Eurostar 3000 model, will weigh approximately 6 metric tons at liftoff, perfectly suited for the Proton Breeze M’s lift capability. Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow, the majority shareholder in ILS, manufactures the Proton system.
The Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite will complete Inmarsat’s next-generation global satellite network, providing broadband MSS services to users everywhere.
This is the first ILS mission since a Breeze M upper stage suffered a failure during the AMC-14 mission in March. The Proton Breeze M is ready to return to flight now that a Russian State Commission and an ILS-led independent review panel have concluded their inquiries into that incident and corrective actions have been completed.
“Having participated in the Failure Review process in its entirety, I am satisfied that the appropriate actions have been taken to deal with recent failures and to reassess the quality of the Proton vehicle. Inmarsat now expects to transport the satellite to the launch site and complete certain other formalities in sufficient time to target the launch date announced recently.” said Gene Jilg, Chief Technology Officer for Inmarsat.
“We thank Inmarsat for its support and patience,” said ILS President Frank McKenna. “We know how important this satellite is for the continued success of Inmarsat’s growing broadband services, and we look forward to the start of the campaign in the coming days.”
