(19 Mar 2021)
Inmarsat has been awarded a National Space Innovation
Programme (NSIP) contract by the UK Space Agency to develop an in-orbit
telemetry relay service for rockets called “InRange”.

The contract is valued at £258,000
with matched funding from industry taking the project total to
£422,096.

Inmarsat’s InRange service will reduce the
dependency of space launch providers on traditional, expensive
ground-based monitoring systems infrastructure for their rockets
and will provide a more cost-effective, flexible solution,
available globally via Inmarsat’s geostationary L-band satellite
network.

Inmarsat is working with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries (MHI) to ensure the InRange service develops to meet
the challenging environmental conditions experienced by launch
vehicles.

Safran Data Systems (France) and Haigh-Farr Inc. (USA)
are also partners in this project and focus on the L-band
transmitter and antenna design.

Nick Shave, Vice President of Strategic Programmes
at Inmarsat Global Government, said, “Inmarsat’s highly robust
L-band satellite network is ideal to provide telemetry services
for launch providers globally. The space launch market is an
exciting new sector for our network and team to work on. This
innovative project will allow us to solve problems and create
efficiencies in the design of a reliable and secure telemetry
solution for launch service providers and launch site operators.”

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