New Delhi: SpaceX is all set to launch a 'behemoth' commercial communications satellite using its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The Inmarsat-5 satellite, weighing in at nearly 13,500 pounds (6,123.4 kgs), atop the rocket, will blast off from SpaceX’s seaside Launch Complex 39A on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:21 p.m. EDT (or 23:21 UTC) Monday, May 15.


Watch the SpaceX broadcast live at: SpaceX.com/webcast


"Inmarsat-5 F4 (I-5 F4) will boost the power of our award-winning Global Xpress network, which has been delivering seamless, high-speed broadband connectivity across the world since December 2015," the London-based mobile satellite services provider said in a statement.


"Once in geostationary orbit, the satellite will provide additional capacity for Global Xpress users on land, at sea and in the air," Inmarsat said.


The satellite, which is the fourth satellite in Inmarsat's Global Xpress network, will be the heaviest load lofted by a Falcon 9 yet, Floridatoday.com reported on Sunday.


The Inmarsat-5 Flight 4 satellite, built by Boeing, will be deployed approximately 32 minutes after launch when it will come under the command of the Boeing and Inmarsat satellite operations teams based at the Boeing facility in El Segundo, California.


"From here I-5 F4 will be manoeuvred to its geostationary orbit, 35,786km above Earth, where it will deploy its solar arrays and reflectors and undergo intensive payload testing before beginning commercial service," Inmarsat said.


The satellite was originally planned to launch April 30 on a Falcon Heavy rocket.


(With IANS inputs)