Inmarsat Plans to Supplement L-Band Safety Services Satellites

Inmarsat plans to launch three small, geostationary L-band satellites by 2026 to add resilience to its safety services offerings, the company said Friday. It said Swissto12 will develop the satellites, using that company's HummingSat satellite platform. Intelsat said it also will start introducing its L-band capacity and transitioning services throughout this year to the I-6 satellite launched in 2021 (see 2302140005). It said the I-6 satellite launched earlier this year is expected to enter into operation in early 2024. Beyond the I-8s, Inmarsat said it hopes to launch two polar coverage satellites -- GX 10a and b -- in the first half of 2024 and three GlobalXpress satellites -- GX 7, 8 and 9 -- in 2025. Inmarsat last month suffered a temporary outage of its L-band maritime safety services over Asia (see 2304200061).