Boeing's 702 family.
If you've ever designed a house, a boat, or a business office you know the stress and details involved... just imagine what it must be like to review the design of not one but two satellites. That milestone was accomplished November 16, 2016 when ViaSat Inc.(Nasdaq: VSAT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced that the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the first two ViaSat-3 class satellites was completed confirming the ViaSat-3 satellites will satisfy performance specifications and requirements when operating on orbit.
After this step the next enables ViaSat and Boeing to begin detailed design work on each satellite. The first flight hardware is on schedule to arrive in ViaSat's Tempe, Arizona satellite integration facility in late 2017. The first ViaSat-3 class satellite is expected to launch in 2019.
The ViaSat-3 class of Ka-band satellites is expected to provide unprecedented capabilities in terms of service speed and flexibility. The first two satellites will focus on the Americas and on Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), respectively, with a third satellite planned for the Asia Pacific region, completing ViaSat's global service coverage. Each ViaSat-3 class satellite is expected to deliver more than 1-Terabit per second of network capacity, and to leverage high levels of flexibility to dynamically direct capacity to where customers are located.
Keven Lippert, executive vice president, Satellite Systems and Corporate Development at ViaSat said, "Almost one year into the ViaSat-3 program and we are on schedule with a solid satellite design. Once again, the ViaSat and Boeing teams are working really well together in a collaborative effort to continue to revolutionize satellite broadband communications. The ViaSat-3 satellite platform will provide enough capacity to deliver an affordable, high-speed, high-quality Internet and video streaming service across the globe."
Mark Spiwak, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International added, "The ViaSat-3 class of satellites are the highest power payloads a Boeing-built 702 satellite platform has ever supported, coupled with the efficiency of all-electric propulsion. With a truly innovative design, the Boeing and ViaSat team have done a tremendous job working together to ensure that ViaSat-3's latest program milestone is on time and that the team continues to push forward."
For each ViaSat-3 class satellite, ViaSat will build the satellite payload, integrate the payload into the Boeing-provided payload module and test the integrated payload. Boeing will provide the scalable 702 satellite platform, system integration and test, launch vehicle integration and mission operations services.