Inmarsat goes into orbit

Inmarsat, a London-based communications company, has successfully launched its latest satellite, with the intention of building a global mobile broadband network.

There has been ten years of development in the Inmarasat-4 satellite, which is the size of a double-decker bus, weight six tonnes and has a solar panel which measures 90 metres from tip to tip.

It is the third and final satellite the company will be sending up, with the first two, which were launched in 2005, covering 85 per cent of the world's land mass and 98 per cent of its population.

This third satellite is to cover Eastern Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Pacific.

"While other mobile satellite companies are talking about finding their next generation of satellites, we have just completed ours," the company's chief executive and chairman, Andrew Sukawaty, told the Times.

“Once the third I-4 is operational, Inmarsat will have the only fully-funded next-generation network for mobile satellite services.”

The satellite was launched in Kazakhstan, and was put into orbit on the back of a Proton Breeze M rocket.