Inmarsat-6 F2

Inmarsat-6 F2 will be the 58th Eurostar E3000 spacecraft built by Airbus.

An Airbus Beluga plane carrying the Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite landed at Kennedy Space Center on 2023-01-27 after refueling stops in Canada and Virginia.

The 5,500-kilogram Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite arrived at its Florida launch site after a three-day journey from Airbus’ testing facilities in France.

Inmarsat has commissioned ten geo-telecommunications satellites from Airbus including Inmarsat-6 F1 and Inmarsat-6 F2.

Inmarsat-6 F2’s Ka-band beams are designed to address connectivity hotspots over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Falcon 9 booster used for the Inmarsat-6 F2 mission previously supported a crewed flight to the International Space Station and the launch of a GPS III satellite.

The booster used on the Inmarsat-6 F2 launch previously supported a crewed flight to the International Space Station and the launch of a GPS III satellite.

A Falcon 9 carrying the British company’s Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite lifted off at 10:59 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

Viasat and Airbus are working to determine the root cause of the Inmarsat-6 F2 anomaly and assess whether the satellite will be able to perform its mission.

Inmarsat-6 F2’s initial mission included providing spare L-band capacity and four gigabits per second of additional Ka-band capacity.

Inmarsat-6 F2’s four gigabits per second of Ka-band capacity was added to provide additional flexibility to the legacy Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) Ka-band fleet.

Viasat and Airbus are working to determine the root cause of the Inmarsat-6 F2 anomaly and to assess whether the satellite will be able to perform its mission.

Airbus manufactured the Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite.

Inmarsat-6 F2 remained well short of geostationary orbit as of the mid-August orbital data.

Inmarsat-6 F2’s initial mission included providing spare L-band capacity and four gigabits per second of additional Ka-band capacity.

Inmarsat’s Inmarsat-6 F1 is scheduled to launch in 2020 on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket and Inmarsat-6 F2 is scheduled for launch in 2021 on a to-be-announced launcher, with both satellites sourced from Airbus.

SpaceX will launch the Inmarsat-6 F2 (I-6 F2) satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2023-01-01.

Airbus expects Inmarsat-6 F2 to complete post-launch orbital maneuvers and testing and to enter service in early 2024.

Both Inmarsat-6 F1 and Inmarsat-6 F2 carry a hybrid L- and Ka-band payload for providing mobile connectivity services to maritime, aviation, and government customers.

The Airbus-built Inmarsat-6 F2 geostationary telecommunications satellite arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on board an Airbus Beluga ready for its launch in February.