Satellite giant, ViaSat Inc., has announced its intention to launch ViaSat-2 in 2016 – a high-capacity broadband satellite that the company predicts will cover seven-times the geographic area and offer twice the bandwidth economics of ViaSat-1, which is already the highest capacity satellite in the world.
Planned coverage includes North America, Central America, and the Caribbean basin. The satellite will also provide a bridge of coverage across the North Atlantic, connecting North America with high-capacity coverage in the UK and Europe for high-speed in-flight internet and other mobile services.
ViaSat-2, currently under construction by Boeing, will become the fourth satellite in the ViaSat fleet. The satellite is scheduled for a late summer 2016 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy (the world’s most powerful rocket) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
“One of the primary objectives for ViaSat-2, beyond higher speeds, is to offer more data with all of our service plans. That’s what customers want from any wireless service,” said Mark Dankberg, ViaSat chairman and CEO. “We can do that by building a network with lots more network capacity at a cost that will attract more customers, and that’s what this new class of satellite is designed to do.”
