Northrop Grumman's Reflector System Successfully Deploys Aboard Fourth Inmarsat Communications Satellite A deployable reflector system made by Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully deployed on-orbit Aug. 28 aboard the Inmarsat 4 F3 satellite.
Astrium-built Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite successfully deployed in orbit Further to its launch by Proton on 18 August 2008, the third Astrium-built Inmarsat-4 satellite took four apogee engine firings to reach geosynchronous orbit. Following full deployment of its 45m solar array and 80m² antenna reflector the spacecraft adopted its final Earth-pointing control mode.
Inmarsat, the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, has confirmed the successful launch and acquisition of the third Inmarsat-4 satellite. The satellite was launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:43pm BST on 18 August (4:43am 19th August, local time). Inmarsat's tracking station in Fucino, Italy was able to track the satellite while it was still coupled to the Breeze M launch vehicle. Launch provider ILS confirmed successful spacecraft separation at 8:46am BST on 19 August.
A Russian Proton rocket has launched on a mission to orbit one of the biggest commercial satellites ever built. The Proton is carrying the six-tonne Inmarsat-4 (I4-F3) telecommunications spacecraft on a flight that will last just over nine hours.
At 22:43 GMT, 18th August, 2008, a Proton M launch vehicle, utilising a 5-burn Breeze M upper stage, was successfully launched from Pad 39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite on board.