A UK-built, six-ton satellite was successfully launched into space yesterday from a converted oil rig.
Inmarsat-4, which was assembled in Stevenage and Portsmouth, will boost communications and provide broadband internet for the Americas and remote regions including the Arctic and Antarctic.
It was fired into orbit from the Odyssey launch platform in the Pacific after earlier postponements due to a software glitch.
The satellite – one of the biggest ever launched – is the size of a London bus and is designed to operate for 15 years. It is the second of three which will cover the Earth.