Viasat, a global communications company, is facing a major setback with its ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, which encountered an antenna problem after its launch in April. The satellite, which was supposed to provide high-speed broadband service to the Americas region, may have reduced or no capacity due to the anomaly.
Antenna Anomaly Discovered in July
The ViaSat-3 Americas satellite was launched on April 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida1. The satellite is one of the most powerful commercial spacecraft ever built, with two solar array wings capable of generating more than 30 kilowatts of electricity and a large reflector antenna to bounce Internet signals between the ground and the satellite1.
However, in July, Viasat announced that it had discovered an “unexpected event” during the deployment of the reflector that may “materially impact” the performance of the satellite1. The company did not disclose the exact nature of the problem, but said it was working closely with the antenna’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman’s Astro Aerospace, to try to resolve the issue12.
According to an industry source, there was very little chance that ground teams would be able to fix the satellite’s antenna and fully recover the mission1. If Viasat declares it a total loss, the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite is insured for $420 million, but that would not cover the entire cost of the mission, which was estimated at about $700 million1.
Contingency Plans Under Consideration
Viasat is not ready to give up on the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite yet, as it hopes to get some capacity from the spacecraft despite its defective antenna. The company’s chair and CEO Mark Dankberg said on August 9 that engineers had been able to get end-to-end measurements showing that the rest of the satellite was operating as expected or better3. However, he said more data was needed to determine whether Viasat would ultimately get little to no capacity from the satellite, or something closer to the 1 terabit per second (Tbps) it had been expecting3.
Dankberg said Viasat had multiple contingency plans in place to cover a wide range of potential scenarios, and expected to have enough data by its next earnings announcement in November to move forward with one of them3. The options include building a replacement from scratch, buying capacity from other operators, and redeploying spacecraft from Viasat’s current fleet of 19 satellites3. Viasat could also reallocate one of its two upcoming ViaSat-3 satellites to cover the Americas instead of elsewhere3.
The second ViaSat-3 satellite, which is intended to cover Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), uses the same antenna as the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, and Dankberg said changes to its launch schedule also depend on the corrective actions Viasat takes3. The third and final ViaSat-3 satellite, which is targeting Asia Pacific (APAC), uses a different antenna and its launch is unaffected3.
Impact on Business and Customers
Viasat said the issues with ViaSat-3 Americas would mainly affect its performance in the U.S. fixed broadband market, which represents only 13% of its total revenues following its recent acquisition of British satellite operator Inmarsat3. Dankberg said Viasat expected to meet a backlog of demand it had from airline customers “at least for some period of time” with bandwidth from other satellites3.
However, Viasat also acknowledged that the growth in its fixed broadband business would be delayed compared to what it would have achieved with nominal antenna performance2. The company said it did not expect the anomaly on ViaSat-3 Americas to affect its financial results for its fiscal year 2024 that ends March 30, 2025, but it did anticipate an impact in the following year2.
Viasat has been facing competition from newer broadband offerings from companies like SpaceX and OneWeb, which are deploying large constellations of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that offer lower latency and higher speeds than Viasat’s geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites12. The ViaSat-3 class of Ka-band satellites are expected to provide the best bandwidth economics in the industry with substantial flexibility to move and concentrate capacity virtually anywhere there is demand4.
Viasat’s customers include residential and business users, as well as airlines, government agencies, and military forces. Viasat’s systems are installed on about 2,270 commercial aircraft; in a filing it listed customers including Delta Air Lines Inc., Qantas Airways Ltd. and JetBlue Airways Corp.2
