The first Inmarsat-6 satellite built by Airbus was shipped to Japan for its launch in December.
Inmarsat-6 F1 left Airbus headquarters in Toulouse for the Tanegashima Space Center on the southeast coast of the island of the same name. The satellite is scheduled for takeoff on December 10, 2021, onboard an H-IIA rocket built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The mass of the launch will be 5.5 tons.
Inmarsat-6 is based on Airbus’ Eurostar E3000 bus, capable of generating up to 21 kW of power through its solar panels. It will be the 54th satellite of the Eurostar E3000 family in service and the fifth with electric propulsion for orbital maneuvers. The design lifetime of the equipment is over 15 years. François Gaullier, Airbus Director of Telecommunications Systems, said, «The platform on which the Inmarsat-6 is based offers extraordinary flexibilities, capabilities, and capacities, and will help maintain Inmarsat’s market dominance».
The Inmarsat-6 family comprises a 9 m aperture antenna for L-band communications and nine Ka-band antennas and features a high level of flexibility and connectivity. Inmarsat-6 F1 will be capable of handling up to 8,000 communication channels simultaneously, including dynamic capacity assignments.
