Inmarsat-4 satellite to be launched November 5

MOSCOW, November 3 - The Inmarsat-4 satellite will be launched by the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-3SL carrier rocket from the Sea Launch platform in the equatorial Pacific Ocean on November 5, a spokesman for the Moscow office of Boeing, a joint owner of Sea Launch, said Wednesday.

The Odyssey self-propelled platform launcher and the Sea Launch Commander ship have left the base in California where they were stationed, and are being taken to the launch site. The launch, scheduled for 17:19 Moscow time (13:19 GMT), will be the fourth from the platform this year.

Inmarsat-4 was built by the EADS Astrium company, and will transmit data for the Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) communications system in North and South America for over 13 years. BGAN provides Internet access, corporate and local networks, and multimedia.

sections: World News, Hi-Tech