Inmarsat 5F4

[Analoguesat]

Expected to launch to geostationary orbit on an all new Falcon9 soon. Will be Ka & L band

Bulgaria’s first communications satellite to ride SpaceX’s second reused rocket – Spaceflight Now

(Down near the bottom of the report)

 

[solly]

plan launch 15 may

 

[Analoguesat]

Duplicate threads merged.

 

[solly]

poster of launch

 

[solly]

launch success

 

[hvdh]

Inmarsat-5 F4 arrives today at 83.5°E.
Expected to be an in-orbit spare at first.

 

[hvdh]

Inmarsat-5 F4 has left 83.5°E, moving 2.4°E/day, now already beyond 91°E.

 

[hvdh]

Inmarsat-5 F4 was at 117.5°E from Dec 1 2017 to March 18 2018, now moving 2.1°W/day.

 

[hvdh]

The moving speed was slowing down, and Inmarsat-5 F4 may have stopped at 58.0°E (listed at ITU), but that's not yet confirmed by TLE.

 

[hvdh]

New TLE shows Inmarsat-5 F4 is still moving 0.9°W/day, near 56°E now.
Starting to think, almost a year after launch, Inmarsat don't really need this satellite quite yet...

 

[hvdh]

Inmarsat-5 F4 stopped at 56.5°E according today's TLE.

 

[hvdh]

Alphasat (Inmarsat-4 F4) at 24.85°E had an attitude problem on 6 and 7 July: INMARSAT Incident Report - Alphasat Outage – 6th and 7th July 2018

Maybe not coincidentally, on 18 July, Inmarsat-5 F4 has left 56.5°E, drifting 1.2°W/day.
If intended as backup or replacement at 24.85°E, could be there in mid-August.

 

[hvdh]

Inmarsat-5 F4 is now stationary at 11.0°E.
Not an Inmarsat location I think, so what's this new satellite doing here, reserving someone else's slot?

 

[hvdh]

Indeed, 3 months slot reservation time at 11.0°E (September thru November).
Since today, Inmarsat-5 F4 is back at 56.5°E.

 

[Marcus_21]

At 11°E it had renewed the concession ARABSAT 8G-11E.



Previously it had renewed the concession SE-KA-56.5E at 56,5°E.