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RE: Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite

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The Russian Proton rocket aims to prove its reliability on Monday by putting into orbit one of the biggest commercial satellites ever built.
The launcher has had three failures in three years. The most recent occurred in March and stranded a US spacecraft at a useless altitude.
International Launch Services, which flies the Proton, says an upper-stage glitch has been identified and fixed.
The launch of the six-tonne Inmarsat-4 (I4) satellite is timed for 2243 GMT.

Blobrana · L

The Proton M launch vehicle, utilising a 5-burn Breeze M mission design, will lift off from Pad 39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite on board. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent trajectory to place the Breeze M fourth stage and the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite into a suborbital trajectory from which the Breeze M will then place itself and the spacecraft into a low Earth circular parking orbit. Once Inmarsat-4 F3 is in the parking orbit, it will be injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit following four additional burns of the Breeze M.

Launch Date:
August 19 (Baikonur)
August 18 (GMT, London, U.S.)

Launch Time:
04:43 Baikonur
23:43 London
18:43 EDT
22:43 GMT

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The launch of a Proton M Breeze M vehicle with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite has been delayed to allow time to replace and retest a launcher electrical component.
During prelaunch testing in Baikonur, a problem was discovered with the flight computer on the Breeze M upper stage. The vendor-supplied flight computer was replaced over the weekend.

Source (Aug 4, 2008)

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The launch from the Baikonur space centre of a Proton-M rocket with the Inmarsat communications satellite has been re-scheduled from August 14 to 19, 2008.

"An on-board computer failure was discovered in the Breeze M booster during prelaunch testing. Although the computer has been replaced, extra time is needed to test it. For this reason the launch has been rescheduled for August 19" - spokesperson for the Russian space agency.

Blobrana · L

International Launch Services (ILS) has scheduled its next Proton Breeze M commercial mission for August 14 (August 13 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the launch of the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite.
The satellite is scheduled to be shipped to Baikonur in early July for a six-week launch programme. The satellite, an EADS Astrium Eurostar 3000 model, will weigh approximately 6 metric tons at liftoff, perfectly suited for the Proton Breeze Ms lift capability. Khrunichev Space Centre of Moscow, the majority shareholder in ILS, manufactures the Proton system.

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Three Inmarsat-4 satellites were built for Inmarsat by EADS Astrium. The first in the series, I-4 F1, was launched in March 2005, and has an orbital slot over the Indian Ocean at 64 degrees east. The second, I-4 F2, was launched in November 2005, and provides coverage for the Americas from an orbital slot at 154 degrees west.
The I-4 F3 was a ground spare for the two launches in 2005, but its launch and orbital position will complete the Inmarsat-4 constellation and support the global delivery of Inmarsat's latest services.

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International Launch Services (ILS) and Inmarsat Plc announced a contract today for launch of the Inmarsat 4-F3 satellite on a Proton Breeze M vehicle in early 2008.
This satellite, third in the constellation, will enable Inmarsat to offer global coverage with its BGAN mobile broadband service, as well as existing services. Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is planned for the March-April time period. Financial terms were not disclosed.
ILS will provide an enhanced version of its Proton Breeze M vehicle, which is built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre of Moscow. The Enhanced Proton has the capability to lift payloads exceeding 6 metric tons.
The F3 satellite, weighing more than 5900 kg, will be one of the heaviest commercial payloads to date for Proton. The Inmarsat 4 series of satellites are Eurostar E3000 models built by Astrium, among the most sophisticated commercial satellites ever launched and 60 times more powerful than their predecessors.
ILS President Frank McKenna noted that the Proton demonstrated its enhanced capabilities a month ago with the successful launch of DIRECTV 10, which is similar in mass to the Inmarsat F4 satellite.

"Enhanced Proton performed as anticipated, and fits well with Inmarsat's requirements. We understand how important it is for Inmarsat to complete its BGAN expansion in a timely fashion, and we are focusing on performance to meet Inmarsat's schedule demands for a launch of F4 in the first quarter of 2008" - Frank McKenna.

"In response to the growth we are seeing from our maritime, aero and new BGAN customers we are pleased to announce the signing of this contract with ILS. This will allow us to take the global services that are standard for Inmarsat into the new fleet of Inmarsat 4's. We will now have global coverage for all services in the future" - Andrew Sukawaty, chairman and CEO, Inmarsat Plc.

The Proton enhancements are the result of more than two years of research, development and testing by Khrunichev, which is a partner in the ILS joint venture. While the primary purpose of the upgrades was to meet the requirements of ILS commercial customers and their larger satellites, the enhanced vehicle will ultimately be used for Russian federal missions as well.
ILS is an American-based joint venture of Space Transport Inc. and Khrunichev, one of the cornerstones of the Russian space industry. Headquartered in McLean, Va., ILS has exclusive rights to market the Proton vehicle worldwide to commercial satellite operators. As of the first half of this year, the company brought in more than $1 billion in new business and has a backlog of 22 missions.

Source Inmarsat