Slideshow: Creating the Global Hot Spot

Hunting for wireless internet access is about to get a whole lot easier, if the broadband-by-satellite ambitions of a U.K. telecom giant reach liftoff. Last of a four-part series. John Hudson reports from London.
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Liftoff: A Sea Launch Zenit 3-SL rocket, powered with liquid oxygen and kerosene, makes a fiery ascent with its payload from the deck of the Odyssey launch facility.Sea Launch

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Global Reach: The Inmarsat I-4 satellites, with their huge AstroMesh reflectors will blanket the planet with broadband data and voice.

Inmarsat
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EADS Astrium engineers assemble the vast payload of the I-4 satellite. The antenna array (top) bristles with over a hundred high-efficiency helix elements.

EADS Astrium