Satnews Daily
September 15th, 2011

Space Systems/Loral + ViaSat... Arrival Accomplished (Satellite)



Artistic rendition of the ViaSat-1 satellite
[SatNews] The new satellite for the Company has reached its destination for the upcoming launch...

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) (NASDAQ: LORL), one of the world's leading provider of commercial satellites, has announced that the high throughput broadband satellite that it built for ViaSat Inc., arrived today at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, where it will be launched aboard an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS). The all Ka-band satellite uses multiple spot beams and frequency reuse to maximize capacity for broadband service in North America.

"Space System/Loral is the leader in putting broadband capacity in space and we have been building Ka-band satellites since the 1970s," said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. "ViaSat-1 has been a complex and challenging project and we share ViaSat's excitement at the upcoming launch." ViaSat-1 represents the next generation of broadband satellites. It is expected to dramatically increase the amount of capacity available to serve more customers with faster data rates and higher data volume for a better broadband experience.


ViaSat-1 in the Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) Photo courtesy of SS/L

"The ViaSat-1 system, which includes the gateways and user terminals in addition to the satellite, is going to change the way people think about satellite broadband," said Mark Dankberg, chief executive officer of ViaSat. "Now, with the satellite at launch base, we are very close to seeing our vision become a reality." When launched, ViaSat-1, which will be positioned at 115.1 degrees West, is expected to provide more than 100 gigabits per second throughput, mostly for use in the West Coast of the U.S. and east of the Texas panhandle. The satellite has 72 spot beams, with 63 in the U.S. and nine over Canada. The Canadian beams are owned by satellite operator Telesat and will be used for the Xplornet broadband service to consumers in rural Canada. ViaSat-1 is based on SS/L's highly reliable 1300 platform, which has the scale to support the large amount of spot beams, equipment and thermal dissipation required by high throughput satellites. It is designed to deliver service for 15 years or more.