ViaSat-3 F2 delivered to Florida for October launch

TAMPA, Fla. — Viasat’s second ViaSat-3 satellite has arrived in Florida for a launch in the second half of October, giving the company another chance to operate a terabit-per-second (Tbps) broadband powerhouse from geostationary orbit.

Boeing said Sept. 30 that the six-ton satellite was delivered from its factory in California and will soon be integrated with a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

ULA was at one point due to fly ViaSat-3 F2 in 2023, before an antenna deployment issue on ViaSat-3 F1, launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy earlier that year, cost that satellite more than 90% of its planned 1 Tbps capacity.

The companies have not detailed the corrective actions that have been taken to avoid repeating the issue with the ViaSat-3 F1 antenna supplied by Northrop Grumman.

ViaSat-3 F2 is due to provide services next year over the Americas, where ViaSat-3 F1 is currently stationed. Analysts say it is likely ViaSat-3 F1 will then be moved to cover ViaSat-3 F2’s original mission over Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Boeing is also building the Asia-focused ViaSat-3 F3, which will use a deployable mesh antenna from L3Harris and is slated to enter service in early to mid-2026.

“The ViaSat-3 satellites were designed with global operability in mind, allowing each of the three to be deployed anywhere in the world,” a Viasat spokesperson said.

“This flexibility enables us to position them based on customer demand and where they can deliver the greatest value.”

At about the size of half a football field when fully deployed, ViaSat-3 F2 would provide more bandwidth capacity than all 23 satellites in Viasat’s current fleet combined.

This capacity is badly needed for aviation and maritime customers in particular, as Viasat battles with SpaceX’s rapidly expanding Starlink broadband constellation in low Earth orbit.