December 09, 2013
An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton
Breeze M successfully placed the Inmarsat-5 F1 (I-5
F1) satellite into a super-synchronous
(geo-stationary) transfer orbit (SSTO) today. The
spacecraft was launched for Inmarsat, the leading
provider of global mobile satellite communications
services. I-5 F1 is the first of three Inmarsat
next-generation Global Xpress® satellites
scheduled to launch before the end of 2014. This
marks the seventh launch of the year and the third
SSTO mission for ILS, a leader in providing mission
integration and launch services to the global
commercial satellite industry.
The Proton launch vehicle, carrying the I-5 F1
satellite, lifted off from Pad 39 at the Baikonur
Cosmodrome yesterday at 18:12 local time (12:12
GMT and 07:12 EST). The SSTO mission utilized
a 5-burn Breeze M mission design to advance the
orbital unit first to a circular parking orbit, then
to an intermediate orbit, followed by a transfer
orbit, and finally to a 65,000 km-apogee
super-synchronous transfer orbit. After a 15-hour,
31-minute mission, the satellite was placed into the
target orbit by the Proton launcher. SSTO missions
provide increased heavy-lift performance over GTO
mission designs, allowing our customers the
capability to maximize spacecraft operational
lifetime.
The satellite was manufactured by Boeing
Satellite Systems International, Inc. and built on
the flight proven 702HP platform. Weighing over 6
metric tons at lift-off, the I-5 F1 satellite has 89
Ka-band fixed beams and 6 steerable ones. I-5 F1 is
designed to generate approximately 15 kilowatts of
power at the start of service and approximately 13.8
kilowatts at the end of its 15-year design life. To
generate such high power, the spacecraft's two solar
wings employ five panels of ultra-triple-junction
solar cells.
ILS President Phil Slack stated, “We are honored
to share this momentous occasion with Inmarsat, true
innovators in the satellite communications industry,
with the first ILS Proton launch of three in the
Global Xpress constellation. Today’s ILS Proton
launch builds on a strong relationship between
Inmarsat and ILS dating back to 2008 with the launch
of an Inmarsat-4 satellite. We thank the teams
who worked tirelessly on the successful launch of
I-5 F1 and look forward to our upcoming missions
with Inmarsat.”
“Global Xpress is the result of three years of
planning and, together with a fourth Inmarsat-5
satellite we ordered recently from Boeing,
represents an investment of US$1.6 billion in our
next generation of high bandwidth, high capacity,
mobile broadband communications satellites,” said
Rupert Pearce, CEO, Inmarsat. “Our Global Xpress
constellation, which is on schedule to achieve full
global coverage by the end of 2014, will ensure our
satellite services fully support the current and
future needs of our end-users across the world -
whether on land, at sea or in the air. I wish to
thank the teams at Inmarsat and Boeing for their
hard work and ingenuity in bringing this highly
innovative programme to fruition. We also thank our
experienced partners at ILS and Khrunichev for their
dedication and assurance in ensuring this mission
was successful. We look forward to our future
ILS Proton launches next year.”
The I-5 F1 launch also marked the 392nd launch
for Proton since its maiden flight in 1965 and the
84th ILS Proton Launch overall. This was also the
16th Boeing-built satellite launched on an ILS
Proton and the 3rd Inmarsat satellite launched on
Proton overall. The Proton M Breeze M vehicle is
developed and built by Khrunichev Research and
Production Space Center of Moscow, Russia’s premier
space industry manufacturer and majority shareholder
in ILS.
