Viasat has announced that its ViaSat-3 F1 (VS3 F1) satellite has entered commercial service, now available for aviation customers operating across North America, including routes to Hawaii. This milestone follows a period of testing and live trials conducted during the first half of 2024.
“This is exciting news for our aviation customers and the millions of passengers who use inflight Wi-Fi services powered by the Viasat network,” said Jimmy Dodd, President, Aviation segment at Viasat. “Bringing ViaSat-3 F1 into commercial service for aviation customers will significantly enhance the passenger experience available over North America, including streaming content and staying in touch with the world when flying.”
“Today’s announcement is also a significant technical achievement for Viasat and signals the start of revenue generating services from the first of our three ground-breaking ViaSat-3 satellites,” added Craig Miller, President, Global Space Networks, Viasat. “A further two ViaSat-3 satellites are currently in the late stages of production and testing, including the successful completion of thermal vacuum testing on ViaSat-3 F3 recently and the successful completion of mechanical environmental testing on ViaSat-3 F2.”
Following its launch in April 2023, ViaSat-3 F1 encountered an issue with antenna deployment. Despite this, extensive in-orbit testing confirmed that all other systems on the satellite are performing at or above expectations. Although the antenna deployment anomaly has led to a notable reduction in overall capacity, the ViaSat-3 satellite system’s resilience and high-performance capabilities still enable it to provide high-speed broadband services to aviation customers over North America, where the satellite is positioned.
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