The launch of Carlsbad-based Viasat’s new terabit-class Internet satellite has been pushed back again.
ViaSat-3 Americas was slated to launch Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
Now the earliest it will blast off is April 26, according to the Kennedy Space Center website. This is the second launch delay since the satellite headed to Florida from Southern California. ViaSat-3 Americas was originally set to launch on April 8.
The reason for the pushback is unclear, but delays are not particularly unusual. They occur for a variety of reasons. Viasat confirmed the new launch window and said the delay had nothing to do with the satellite. SpaceX didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. But the Kennedy Center said SpaceX confirmed the new schedule.
Viasat supplies satellite broadband to commercial airlines for in-flight Wi-FI, government customers and rural residences. Airline customers include Delta, JetBlue, United, American and Southwest. Its current fleet of four satellites is essentially full.
ViaSat-3 Americas, with at least 1,000 gigabits per second of capacity and the ability to steer bandwidth to places where there is the most demand, will allow the company to offer faster speeds and larger data allotments for things like video streaming. The company last launched a satellite in 2017.
Until now, Viasat’s bandwidth has been mostly centered on North America. But it’s going global. After this first satellite, the company plans to launch ViaSat-3 for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the fall, and ViaSat-3 Asia Pacific early next year.
Satellite communications has become extremely competitive with the emergence of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation and others. In January, SpaceX said on Twitter that Starlink had 1 million customers globally. Other deep-pocketed competitors, including Amazon, also have plans for satellite Internet constellations.
Once all the ViaSat-3 satellites are in orbit, the company expects to have 600 percent more capacity than its existing fleet. Each of the high-altitude geostationary ViaSat-3s weighs 6 metric tons and has 144-foot wingspans.
The company shares ended trading Tuesday down 89 cents at $33.05 on the Nasdaq exchange.
