ViaSat-1 Ready to Ship With Launch Set for September
CARLSBAD, Calif., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has announced that construction of the ViaSat-1 high-capacity satellite is complete and that the spacecraft is being prepared for shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ViaSat-1 is now scheduled for launch by International Launch Services (ILS) aboard a Proton rocket during the last week in September.
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The expected summer launch of ViaSat‘s transformational Ka-band satellite was recently delayed when a solar array onboard the Telstar 14R communications satellite failed to fully deploy following its launch in May. Telstar 14R, like ViaSat-1, was built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and uses many of the same solar array elements. An extensive, independent review of the solar array design, manufacturing, and operation was convened by SS/L, which resulted in a set of inspections, tests, and corrective actions for subsequent SS/L satellites, including ViaSat-1. That work is now complete on ViaSat-1 and the satellite has been declared ready for flight.
“We have been working closely with ILS to fit ViaSat-1 into a busy launch schedule that was disrupted by the delay,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of ViaSat. “The satellite is now complete, the spacecraft is being prepared for shipment, and a final launch date will be confirmed very soon.”
A ViaSat-1 launch information page has been added to the ViaSat website at www.viasat.com/viasat-1-launch, which will be live beginning next Monday, July 25. Visitors will be able to view mission information, news updates, links to partner sites, and a live broadcast on the day of the launch.
ViaSat-1 is designed to transform the economics and quality of service that satellite broadband can provide, with the capacity to serve the accelerating growth in bandwidth demand for multimedia Internet access over the next decade. The high-capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite has planned coverage over North America and Hawaii, enabling a variety of new, high-speed broadband services for WildBlue in the U.S. and Xplornet in Canada. With a capacity estimated at 150 Gbps, ViaSat-1 is expected to be the highest capacity satellite in the world.
About ViaSat
ViaSat delivers fast, secure communications, Internet, and remote network access to fixed sites or on-the-move. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies and products to the U.S. and allied governments; is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services; and offers high-speed Ka-band satellite broadband services under the WildBlue brand. ViaSat also offers design capabilities and a number of complementary products including monolithic microwave integrated circuits and modules, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression, and mobile satellite antenna systems. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., ViaSat has established a number of worldwide locations for customer service, network operations, and technology development.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, specifically statements about the future launch date of ViaSat-1. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: satellite failures, performance degradation, in-orbit risks and anomalies, launch delays, and launch failures or improper orbital placement. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat‘s SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including ViaSat‘s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. ViaSat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
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Mark D. Dankberg
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SOURCE ViaSat Inc.
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