The first I-4 satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where it will undergo final checks and fuelling before it blasts into orbit.
The huge spacecraft – weighing a massive six tons and three-quarters the size of a double-decker bus – will be the largest and most powerful commercial communications satellite ever launched.
Three Inmarsat I-4 spacecraft have been designed to deliver Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), a new service that will bring seamless mobile voice and broadband Internet connectivity around the world.
In the final days before leaving Astrium’s factory in Toulouse, France, a nine-metre diameter reflector was attached which will reflect the satellite’s beam down to Earth.
The spacecraft then underwent extensive electrical systems testing before the 45-metre solar array wings were fixed on to its body. The wings absorb solar energy from the sun to provide power for the spacecraft.
A giant Antonov freighter aircraft carried the satellite packed inside an air-conditioned container on a night flight to Florida in the US in early February.
