space.com, Dec 22, 2021
The I-6 pair “are the largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellites ever launched.”
A huge, highly advanced commercial communications satellite just took to the skies.
The Inmarsat-6 F1 satellite launched atop a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket on Wednesday (Dec. 22) from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 10:32 a.m. EST (1532 GMT).
The 12,060-pound (5,470 kilograms) Inmarsat-6 F1 is the first of two “I-6” spacecraft that London-based company Inmarsat plans to loft to geostationary orbit, about 22,240 miles (35,790 kilometers) above our planet.
The I-6 pair “are the largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellites ever launched,” Inmarsat representatives wrote in a fact sheet. “Inmarsat’s first dual-payload satellites, the I-6s feature both L-band (ELERA) and Ka-band (Global Xpress) payloads.”
Click here to read full article:
