Inmarsat satellite outage in April’23 believed to be due to a fault in one of its solar arrays
According to the company, there are still some ongoing impacts to services
Inmarsat system outage in April 2023 is believed to be due to a fault in one of its solar arrays and it was not triggered by a space debris impact or an external malicious act, FSUE Morsviazsputnik says referring to the report issued by Inmarsat.
“On Sunday 16 April at 21.14 UTC, Inmarsat satellite I-4 F1 (4F1) suffered a partial loss of power, believed to be due to a fault in one of its solar arrays. The reduction in power started automatic procedures that resulted in a full-service outage at approximately 22:57 UTC in the 4F1 coverage area (East Asia and western Pacific). Inmarsat immediately began the transfer of Inmarsat-C maritime safety services to a contingency configuration in line with IMSO approved operational process,” reads the report.
In parallel, Inmarsat incident team immediately began the process to recover the 4F1 platform, the payload, and restore services. Service restoration on 4F1 began on 18 Apri. Since then, Inmarsat has continued to restore and further optimise services, including BGAN, IDP, and GSPS (Global Satellite Phone Service).
According to the company, there are still some ongoing impacts to services adding that “there is no indication of a systemic issue. Inmarsat also confirms that the outage was not triggered by a space debris impact or an external malicious act.
As IAA PortNews reported earlier, the Fishing and Communications Monitoring System Center informed about the complete loss of Inmarsat services in the Pacific region on April 17. Inmarsat services were not available in the Pacific region due to an outage on Inmarsat I-4 F1 satellite. That led to the complete loss of services including voice communication and data transfer. Several fishing ships had problems with daily reports amid absence of other satellite links.
Inmarsat is a British satellite telecommunications company established in 1979. Inmarsat is the leading satellite service provider, offering mobile satellite communication services and delivering reliable, seamless global connectivity. It the first satellite operator to meet the stringent requirements of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).
