First Airbus built Inmarsat-6 satellite shipped to Japan ready for launch

The first satellite of the Inmarsat-6 series is due to be launched on an H-IIA launch vehicle built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in December. Inmarsat-6 F1 is based on Airbus’ ultra-reliable Eurostar E3000 spacecraft and will be the 54th Eurostar E3000 launched. It will be the fifth Eurostar in orbit that is equipped with electric propulsion for orbit raising reinforcing Airbus’ position as the world leader in electric propulsion.

The reduced mass by using electric propulsion allows for a dual payload mission (Ka and L-band) with an exceptionally large next generation digitally processed payload giving greater flexibility to Inmarsat, the leading provider of global mobile satellite communication services.

François Gaullier, Head of Telecom Systems at Airbus said: “Inmarsat-6 F1 features one of the most sophisticated digitally processed payloads we have ever built and delivers remarkable flexibility, capability and capacity. As a long serving supplier to Inmarsat, having built the Inmarsat-4 and Alphasat satellites, Airbus is proud to continue helping keep Inmarsat at the top of its game with this step change in capability brought by Inmarsat-6.”