Satellite broadband coverage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa is set to be enhanced after the successful launch of Inmarsat’s Alphasat.
Alphasat was launched on Thursday and should find its final geostationary orbit position on Wednesday.
It will serve Inmarsat’s government and commercial customers in the L-band of spectrum frequency.
The satellite was the result of US$350 million investment from Inmarsat and was launched from the European Spaceport in French Guiana, in the North Atlantic off the coast of Brazil.
“Alphasat will strengthen our existing I-4 satellite constellation, providing coverage over Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said Rupert Pearce, chief executive officer (CEO) of Inmarsat.
“The launch demonstrates Inmarsat’s long-term commitment to L-band services, and marks a significant milestone in the evolution of our flagship satellite fleet, bringing new capabilities both in terms of performance and resource availability.”
Alphasat is Europe’s biggest ever private-public partnership for a space project, with the European Space Agency working closely with Inmarsat.
