Maritime communications will get a significant Ka-band boost in the coming years as Viasat plans to launch eight satellites into orbit in the next three years
Viasat acquired Inmarsat and its Global Xpress (GX) satellite constellation in May 2023 after a lengthy diligence and regulatory process, raising its fleet of Ka-band satellites to 13.
This includes the ViaSat-1 and ViaSat-2 satellites and the GX fleet, and ViaSat-3 F1 satellite, which has had deployment issues. Future investments include more GX satellites and ViaSat-3 F2 and ViaSat-3 F3 to bolster coverage of high-throughput connectivity across the world’s oceans.
“Five of those eight new satellites are expected to launch by the end of 2025,” said Viasat. “We also expect to gain additional bandwidth from the existing in-orbit fleet via ground network optimisations. We believe these augmentations will allow us to provide the high-quality experience our mobility customers have come to expect and allow us to support our near- and intermediate-term growth objectives in mobility.”
The Inmarsat acquisition also brought a growing L-band communications network, with these satellites providing L-band communications to shipping and other maritime sectors. It is increasing this capacity with a sixth-generation Inmarsat-6 F1 and F2 satellites which have GX payloads to add to the five GX satellites already in operation. Prior to the acquisition, Inmarsat planned three more GX satellites and two GX payloads on high elliptical orbit satellites.
ViaSat-3 satellites are capable of performing in any of the three orbital slots for the covered regions (Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific), enabling options in deployment sequence.
This could be important for Viasat, as it is dealing with an anomaly during the deployment of ViaSat-3 F1, where an antenna failed to unfold and extend as anticipated, impacting communications from the satellite.
“We are currently working closely with our antenna supplier to assess the status of the antenna,” said Viasat. “Our near-term objectives, working with the antenna manufacturer and our satellite supplier, are to perform a root cause analysis and determine corrective actions for the antenna on ViaSat-3 F2.”
The potential loss of communications from the faulty antenna could be covered by GX and ViaSat-3 satellites.
“Among the benefits of the Inmarsat acquisition is access to an existing and forthcoming global Ka-band satellite fleet that can be a key factor in enabling sustained growth,” said Viasat.
But for now, Viasat has turned to other satellite operators to provide connectivity to its affected clients.
“We have executed bandwidth supply contracts with other Ka-band broadband operators or partners as a precaution in the event of delays or other possible complications with ViaSat-3 F1,” said Viasat.
“We have also begun analysing and assessing the performance of ViaSat-3 F1 with the affected antenna. To date, all other activated subsystems, including the space payload technology and ground infrastructure designed and built by Viasat, are performing as expected, or better, in end-to-end measurements.”
Offshore Support Journal Conference, Asia returns to Singapore on 12-13 September 2023. Use this link to register interest and get more details on this key industry event
Riviera Maritime Media’s Offshore Support Journal Conference, Middle East will be held 6 December 2023 in Dubai, UAE. Use this link for further information and to register your interest
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.