Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, today announced that its next evolution of Global Xpress (GX), the GX10A & GX10B Arctic payloads, was named as the winner of the “Top Environment, Social & GovernanceImpact Mobile Innovation” category in the Mobile Satellite User Association’s (MSUA) 2021 Satellite Mobile Innovation Awards.

This is the fifth time in the past six years that Inmarsat’s technology has been chosen as a recipient of prestigious MSUA awards, promoting its mobile satellite innovation and development worldwide. This is a testament to the company’s long track record of successful, customer-centric innovation, including extension of GX to deliver the world’s first and only high-speed wideband capacity and interoperability for mobile users in the Arctic region. This will be complemented further by recently-announced additional innovations through the company’s ORCHESTRA and ELERA technology.

GX is the world’s first and only commercial, seamless, mobile wideband service available worldwide. In U.S. government service since July 2014, GX has established itself as the gold standard for reliable communications across land, sea and air domains for assured mobile connectivity.

The GX Arctic expansion demonstrates a unique nature of partnership between government and industry to provide first-ever wideband coverage over the Arctic. Manufactured in the U.S., these GEO-interoperable Arctic satellites will carry two Inmarsat multi-beams payloads, GX10A & GX10B. These payloads will operate in Highly Elliptical Orbits (HEO), ensuring continuous coverage above 65° North and featuring the ability to direct capacity in real-time to the areas of highest demand.

The GX Arctic satellites carrying the GX payloads are scheduled to launch in 2022 with anticipated commercial service introduction in 2023. GX10A & GX10B will integrate seamlessly into the current and planned GX network, and customers will seamlessly transition when passing from any of the GEO satellites to the new HEO payloads.

Susan Miller, CEO, Inmarsat Government, said: “The increased demand for secure and flexible connectivity in the northern latitudes requires innovative solutions to provide commercial and government mission-critical users continuous, reliable, and secure wideband communications in the Arctic region. The GX Arctic payloads present a step change in coverage and availability in this austere yet strategic arctic environment and will drive significant operational and efficiency improvements for our most demanding customers.

“GX10A & GX10B will provide continuous, assured communications to tactical and strategic government users operating in the Arctic region. In addition to commercial subscription services, these payloads will also deliver military Ka-band access through service beams and high-capacity steerable beams, providing a cost-effective complement to military satellite resources.”