Viasat has confirmed the successful launch of ViaSat-3 Americas aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“This first Americas satellite will multiply our available bandwidth and enable faster speeds and more coverage – especially for our mobility customers. It’s not just a new satellite, it’s a new way to build broadband satellites,” commented Mark Dankberg, Viasat’s chairman and CEO.
The ViaSat-3 class of Ka-band satellites are capable of delivering over 1 Terabit per second (Tbps) of throughput capacity each, with dynamic flexibility to move and concentrate that capacity where it’s most needed – whether it’s on land, in the ocean or in the air.
The first two satellites are planned to focus on the Americas and on EMEA, respectively, and the ViaSat-3 EMEA satellite is now in environmental testing in Boeing’s factory in El Segundo, California. The third ViaSat-3 satellite has completed final payload integration and testing at Viasat’s facility at Tempe, Arizona, and will focus on the Asia Pacific region, completing Viasat’s global service coverage.
Don Buchman, VP and GM, Commercial Aviation at Viasat, explained what this launch means for aviation customers, saying: “We have said for some time now that the right bandwidth is the key element to great i-flight connectivity. Since ViaSat-3 Americas is expected to be the world’s highest capacity satellite ever to launch, this launch is a significant milestone for Viasat’s airline customers as passenger demand for connectivity continues to soar. The flexible capacity that ViaSat-3 is designed to provide will further address the key challenge to great inflight wi-fi, which is providing a high quality, consistently fast connection in areas of peak demand – such as at busy airport hubs or even highly congested air corridors. ViaSat-3 will help the company deliver on our core value of great connectivity today and into the future, delivering that in an environment with almost unconstrained demand.”
