Boeing announced the delivery of the 702MP+, a custom-designed spacecraft for network operator Viasat, the company’s most powerful satellite platform.
ViaSat-3 Americas puts the firm one step closer to providing quicker speeds, more bandwidth, and greater value to our clients on a global scale, whether they are on land, sea, or air, according to Dave Ryan, Viasat’s president of Space & Commercial Networks. He noted that this satellite’s innovation provides the corporation with new degrees of freedom to dynamically allocate capacity to the most appealing and engaged regional areas.
ViaSat-3 Americas was flown from the Boeing plant in California to the Florida Space Coast, where Boeing and Viasat crews will assist with launch and mission operations as the spacecraft prepared to go to geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles from Earth. The ViaSat-3 Americas satellite is the first of three 702MP+ spacecraft that will comprise the ultra-high-capacity ViaSat-3 satellite constellation, which will provide high-quality, low-cost worldwide connectivity and coverage.
For the first time aboard a 702MP, Boeing’s 702MP+ includes all-electric propulsion, enabling more sustained performance and economy. It is based on the flight-proven 702 vehicle design, which now houses the US Department of Defense’s Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) constellation as well as more than 40 additional high-performance satellites, including ViaSat-2.
Boeing strengthened the platform’s construction to accommodate Viasat’s huge payload. The platform also houses the largest commercial satellite solar arrays ever constructed by Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab, as well as batteries and supporting electronics that generate well over 30 kW of solar electricity.
The spacecraft will be substantially larger than most geostationary satellites and will include some of the largest reflectors ever put into space, necessitating highly sophisticated, extremely reliable gear and software to maintain optimal satellite control. Boeing collaborated with Viasat to incorporate the payload and design and manufacture the platform.
