ViaSat-2

ViaSat-2 will be a commercial communications satellite which will be the world's highest capacity communications satellite after its launch in late 2016 with an estimated capacity of 350 Gb/s. It is the second Ka-band satellite launched by ViaSat after ViaSat-1. The satellite will provide satellite internet through Exede Internet to North America, parts of South America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean.

History

In May 2013, ViaSat gave the construction contract of the satellite to Boeing. On May 1, 2014 ViaSat sold capacity on the satellite to Xplornet Communications. In January 2015, ViaSat gave the launch contract to SpaceX in an uncontested auction. After SpaceX CRS-7 exploded after launch in June 2015, concerns arose that the investigation may affect the mission's launch window. On February 9, 2016 Arianespace announced it had won contracts to launch Viasat-2 and Viasat-3 in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

Functionality

The satellite, currently estimated to cost $625 million is planned to have about 2.5 times the capacity of the ViaSat-1's 140 Gb/s link or 350 Gb/s. It will use Ka-band frequencies in a spot beam design.