I have no words…
The Viasat/Inmarsat Deal: One Year OutOne year after the Inmarsat acquisition closed, Via Satellite talks up with the Viasat leadership team about the business integration, ViaSat-3 ramifications, and how they see the opportunity for global scale amid a changing industry....Without naming SpaceX or Amazon, Dankberg says he believes there is an existential threat to the satellite industry from very well funded, vertically integrated companies.“The whole satellite ecosystem is under attack by totally vertically integrated companies,” he says. “One of the foundations of that is attacking spectrum resources, orbital resources. If other countries and companies don't have access to orbits and spectrum, it’s pretty hard to do communications from space. I think connecting all of those dots is the single most important thing in the satellite industry right now.”While some people say there is only room at most for three to four LEO constellations to be successful, Dankberg cautions against the international implications of a few constellations taking up all of the look angles and spatial separation in the orbit.“Countries want assured access to their own space systems,” he says. “This goes back to some of the heritage issues that Inmarsat has dealt with from its founding. How do countries cooperate in a way that they can share some of these resources, whether it's spectrum or orbital slots?” ...
Indeed, Delta now expects that widebodies flying transpacific routes (including to Asia, Australia and New Zealand) — as well as to South Africa, will begin rollout in “mid-late 2025”. At that time, barring any unexpected events, Viasat should be able to support inflight Wi-Fi in the Asia-Pacific region using its high-capacity ViaSat-3 F3 satellite.(Viasat has Asia-Pacific coverage via the Global Xpress Ka-band satellite fleet acquired through its Inmarsat buy, but its IFC system is not yet fully interoperable with GX, and interoperability will require hardware upgrades at airlines.)Anticipating a calendar 2024 launch of the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite into geostationary orbit, Viasat management recently told investors that the Carlsbad, California-based firm is eyeing a service entry of “mid-late 2025”.
CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 5, 2024 – Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global leader in satellite communications, today announced that ViaSat-3 F1 (VS3 F1) has entered commercial service and is now available for aviation customers operating over North America, including routes servicing Hawaii. This follows a period of testing and live trials, which took place during the first half of the calendar year (2024).<snip>[Craig Miller, President, Global Space Networks, Viasat, Inc]: “A further two ViaSat-3 satellites are currently in the late stages of production and testing, including the successful completion of thermal vacuum testing on ViaSat-3 F3 recently and the successful completion of mechanical environmental testing on ViaSat-3 F2.”
Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global leader in satellite communications, announced today it was selected by NASA to support the agency’s direct-to-Earth (DTE) capabilities via the Near Space Network (NSN) Services contract, part of a five-year multi-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract program with an option to extend five years at a total cumulative value of $4.82 billion. Viasat is one of four commercial companies NASA announced will receive Task Order awards under this initiative. Initially, Viasat will provide global ground segment support services to NASA missions, with the potential to provide additional services in the future.
Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global leader in satellite communications, today announced that Inmarsat Government (dba Viasat) received a Task Order award to provide satellite communications (SATCOM) services under the Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services (SBS) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, which was awarded in 2023 to multiple vendors by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) on behalf of the U.S Space Force and Space Systems Command (SSC) Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO). This is the first Task Order award for Viasat under the 10-year IDIQ contract, which now has an expanded ceiling value of $13 billion. As part of this contract, Viasat aims to provide a suite of fully-managed LEO satellite-based services and capabilities, to include space relay services, supplemented by GEO and NGSO satellites, supporting all domains – space, air, land, maritime and cyber. Under this initial $3.5 million Task Order, Viasat will provide Ku-band LEO services through a partner network to support U.S. government operations in various global locations. As part of this work, Viasat will provide network management support, including real-time data through an online account management tool and offering comprehensive technical support 24/7 to ensure uninterrupted service. A leading satellite services provider and network integrator, Viasat has worked with trusted satellite owners/operators to provide the bandwidth government customers require at a cost-effective price point.
ViaSat-3 F1 began delivering connectivity to US Government customers including the US Marine Corps. Our ViaSat-3 satellite design provides greater capacity and the flexibility to dynamically shift bandwidth where it is needed most. The use of small beams, beam shaping, encryption and unique anti-jam capabilities are designed to provide secure and reliable connectivity to support the most critical government missions.
We continue to expect VS-3 F2 to be completed and shipped to Cape Canaveral this summer and to enter commercial service late CY2025. The VS-3 F3 manufacturing and test schedule outlook is unchanged from last quarter, but given our significantly increased coverage and capacity resources, we have chosen a less capital intensive launch configuration that has slightly extended the orbit raising time, which is expected to shift the commercial in-service date for VS-3 F3 into CY2026.
Successfully completed in-orbit testing of GX10A and GX10B satellite payloads. The payloads are hosted on Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission spacecraft and are expected to provide broadband satellite coverage over the Arctic region for government and commercial customers early to mid-calendar year 2025.
Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global leader in satellite communications, today joined the European Space Agency’s Moonlight project (“Moonlight”), alongside program lead Telespazio. Moonlight is the European Space Agency's (ESA) program to develop a lunar orbiting Navigation and Communication system that will greatly enhance combined navigation and communications services for European and international missions both on the surface of the Moon and in lunar orbit.
Viasat will be responsible for the design and development of the communication network and will lead the definition of the end-to-end communications services: aiming to provide a communications network for lunar landers, rovers, orbiters, and other technology. Viasat will also be responsible for the communication earth ground infrastructure and communication lunar surface user terminals. Telespazio, as Moonlight program lead, has executed a contract with Viasat for the initial design phase of the communication system. This work will be fully funded by the European Space Agency throughout Phase 1. The UK Space Agency, as one of the major contributors to ESA’s Moonlight program, selected Viasat to lead the UK ecosystem to deliver the communications capability. Moonlight services will be deployed in phases, targeting initial capability at the end of 2028 with full operations aimed by 2030.
https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-viasat-3-f2QuoteMission OverviewAn Atlas V 551 rocket, configured with five side-mounted solid rocket boosters and a standard-length payload fairing, will utilize several launch optimization features to place the ViaSat-3 Flight 2 spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The craft is one of the heaviest single-satellite payloads. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.Satellite mass is 6 tons.
Mission OverviewAn Atlas V 551 rocket, configured with five side-mounted solid rocket boosters and a standard-length payload fairing, will utilize several launch optimization features to place the ViaSat-3 Flight 2 spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The craft is one of the heaviest single-satellite payloads. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Q2 FY2026 Earnings Results [Nov 7]
