Azimuth Elevation Calculator
Sat Long
Ship Lat
Ship Long
Azimuth
Elevation
Skew

Inmarsat Global Xpress | Inmarsat Fleet Xpress | Intellian Offer Complete Fleet Xpress Terminal | SeaTel, Thrane and Intellian to manufacture Global Xpress terminals. | Boeing and Harris to build the Global Xpress satellites | iDirect to provide the Global Xpress ground network | ILS to launch Global Xpress satellites | Inmarsat selects Cobham SeaTel for Global Xpress terminal |
Three of the new Global Xpress Ka band satellites have been launched and a fourth is due to follow in 2017.

Global Xpress is a revolutionary new global Ka Band service from Inmarsat using 3 geostationary Ka-band satellites covering the whole globe with the exception of the extreme polar regions.

I-5 F1 at 62.6 East launched December 2013 covers Europe, Middle east and Africa (EMEA).
I-5 F2 at 55 West launched February 2015 covers the Americas.
I-5 F3 at 179.6 East launched August 2015 covers Pacific, Asia and Western americas. 

The monthly subscription cost for always-on Internet service is expected to be substantially less that Ku-band services available today.

Inmarsat, who, for the past 33 years, have provided metered (pay by the minute or MB) satcom services to ships at sea, have invested $1.2B in a fleet of satellites providing seamless, global, always-on Internet service.
Inmarsat Fleet Xpress (FX), the maritime version of Global Xpress (GX), has finally arrived and beginning to be installed on vessels. 

Global Xpress offers downlink speeds of up to 50Mbps, and uplink speeds up to 5Mbps from maritime VSAT antennas as small as 60cm. 

Because Ka-band is even more susceptible to rain fade than Ku-Band services, the KA_band terminals will be paired with Inmarsat Fleet Broadband (L-band) terminals as a backup during rain fade conditions. If the Ka-band service is interruptred for any reason, the system will automatically roll over to the L-band FleetBroadband terminal via the Inmarsat Network Service Device. There is no addional charge when the system uses the L-band FBB service but the bandwidth will be substantially reduced until the Ka-Band link has been restored. 

Fleet Xpress requires the installation of a FleetBroadband FBB 250 or FBB500 satellite antenna and the Network Service Device. 
Intellian are now offering a complete FX terminal including the GX100 or GX60 Ka-band antenna, the FBB500 antenna, the all-in-one GX below deck terminal containing the ACU, and integrated iDirect GX modem, and Inmarsat's network Service Device to swith between the two antennas when necessary. This is all preconfigured, ready to install, in a rack. 
Inmarsat has selected 3 companies to manufacture the maritime satellite terminals; Cobham SeaTel of California, Thrane and Thrane of Denmark,  and Intellian of Korea.The terminals will include a core module developed by iDirect.

These companies will develop, manufacture, test and distribute 60cm and 1m Global Xpress maritime satellite terminals.
Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems are building the three 702HP Inmarsat-5 Ka-band satellites. Harris Corporation will build the satellite antennas using their Gimbal Dish Antenna (GDA) technology.

The satellites will have 95 steerable Ka-band beams to provide global coverage and adapt to changing usage patterns over the projected 15-year operation of the satellites.
Inmarsat has awarded a $60m contract to iDirect to provide the ground network infrastructure and core module technology for the satellite terminals for their Ka-band Global Xpress service.

iDirect will design, develop, manufacture, test and commission the Global Xpress Ground Network Infrastructure, and supply a Global Xpress compatible Core Module (modem) for integration into Maritime satellite terminals.

iDirect will also be producing a range of Global Xpress core modules for the Aeronautical and Government sectors. The network and core modules will be fully consistent with the Global Xpress objective delivering up to 50Mbps downlink speeds to 60cm aperture terminals.

 

International Launch Services (ILS) will launch the three Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress satellites. The launches, scheduled for 2013-14, will use the ILS Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
2 March 2011: Cobham PLC said Wednesday it was selected by Inmarsat to be the maritime terminal launch partner for Inmarsat's new Global Xpress global broadband service, with a distribution opportunity valued at $40 million over the next five years.

Cobham has been awarded contracts to develop, manufacture, test and distribute Global Xpress maritime satellite terminals, through their Sea Tel product line.

As initial launch partner, Cobham will ensure availability of Global Xpress maritime satellite terminals at service introduction planned for 2013.

Global Xpress will begin operations in 2013 with services tailored initially for the government, energy and maritime markets.

Sea Tel will develop, manufacture, test and distribute Global Xpress maritime satellite terminals, and ensure availability of the 60cm Ka-Band terminals when the service is introduced in 2013. The terminals will include a core module developed by iDirect. Sea Tel will distribute the new terminals and provide training and support prior to the launch of the first satellite. The deal is not exclusive, and other manufacturers will also likely produce antennas to operate in the Global Xpress network.

Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems that are building the three 702HP Ka-band satellites have awarded a new contract to Harris Corporation, to build the satellite antennas for the three Inmarsat-5 satellites.The satellites will have 95 steerable Ka-band beams to provide global coverage and adapt to changing usage patterns over the projected 15-year operation of the satellites. The antennas will use Harris's Gimbal Dish Antenna (GDA) technology.