Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications has received formal confirmation from its launch partner, Arianespace, that the company’s GX5 satellite will be launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Friday 22 November 2019. The launch window is between 21:08 and 22:43 UK time / UTC.
The expected mission time of the Ariane 5 rocket is 34 minutes, 14 seconds, with separation of the 4,007kg GX5 satellite the final step at approximately 34 minutes, 7 seconds after launch.
Global Xpress (GX), which powers the award-winning GX Aviation and Jet ConneX (JX) inflight broadband services, is the most successful service launch in the history of Inmarsat and GX5 is the most advanced satellite in the Global Xpress (GX) fleet. GX5 will be fully integrated into the existing GX network, delivering focused capacity that allows the airline and business aviation markets to meet rapidly growing demand for seamless inflight broadband in the Middle East. It represents a significant advance in the capabilities of the network, offering more capacity than the entire existing GX satellite fleet combined into the region.
GX Aviation customers include leading airlines such as Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand, AirAsia and Singapore Airlines. In addition, Emirates has confirmed its intension to install GX Aviation on its Boeing 777X fleet, as part of its plans to develop and enhance state-of-the-art inflight entertainment and connectivity with Inmarsat partner Thales. In the business aviation market, JX has been activated on more than 600 business jets worldwide.
Neale Faulkner, Inmarsat Aviation Regional Vice President for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, said: “GX Aviation and Jet ConneX have already established themselves as the gold standard for inflight broadband across the world, including the Middle East. The launch of GX5 will cement this position in the long-term by adding even more capacity to meet fast-growing demand in the airline and business aviation markets. This highlights our firm commitment to ensure customers can rely on our world-leading inflight connectivity service not just today, but for decades to come.”
Connectivity services delivered over GX5 will be backwards compatible for all existing GX terminals, future-proofing the investment of Inmarsat’s aviation customers and ensuring that their requirements will continue to be met as demand for capacity continues to increase.
GX5 and the forthcoming seven additional GX satellites, planned for launch in the coming four years, further extend Inmarsat’s global leadership in true broadband services, which is supported by the company’s network of world leading technology, manufacturing and channel partners.
GX5 demonstrates Inmarsat’s investment in continued innovation, service growth, availability, reliability and quality for its customers and partners. The new satellite is significantly more powerful than any previous GX satellite, is 25 per cent smaller and was delivered much more quickly, in just two and a half years from order to launch.