Atlas V delivers ViaSat-3 F2
At 10:04 PM Eastern Time on the night of November 13th, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying the ViaSat-3 F2 spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Taking flight a few hours after the perhaps more notable daytime launch of New Glenn Mission 2 from a neighboring pad, the mission nevertheless marks an interesting chapter in the histories of both Viasat and its Atlas V launch vehicle.
ViaSat-3 F2 is the second spacecraft launched into the ViaSat-3 global broadband constellation. In an age of active and upcoming internet megaconstellations, which employ thousands of spacecraft in dense shells near the Earth, geostationary networks like Viasat’s present a stark contrast. Hovering high over the Earth and orbiting once in 24 hours, few spacecraft are needed to cover a wide area—ViaSat-3 will use just three to service most of the planet, each nominally targeting 1 terabit per second of total throughput capacity.
ViaSat-3 F2 was originally intended to slot into orbit over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. However, the first member of the constellation, ViaSat-3 F1, suffered an unusual antenna deployment failure after launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in 2023. The F1 spacecraft was intended to service the Americas, but the anomaly cost the satellite most of its throughput capacity. As a result, the F2 spacecraft now under commissioning will take its place over the Americas, while the faulty F1 spacecraft is relocated.
For United Launch Alliance, the mission heralds the beginning of the end of its storied Atlas V launch vehicle, and in fact the entire Atlas rocket family. The last in a long line of workhorse rockets for the company, Atlas V has flown over a hundred missions since 2002, ranging from secretive payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office to space probes destined for the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and even Pluto. But now, as ULA transitions to its next-generation Vulcan rocket, Atlas V has its entire manifest booked out to retirement. Just two groups of payloads will carry Atlas V into 2030: Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft performing crew rotations for the International Space Station, and batches of satellites for Amazon’s Leo (formerly Kuiper) internet constellation.
In a quirk of fate, ViaSat-3 F2 became the company’s second payload to be launched that day. New Glenn Mission 2 carried a Viasat technology demonstration as a secondary payload. Viasat’s hardware supported a NASA-funded effort to service the agency’s Near Space Network through commercial satellite communications. The payload used Viasat’s geostationary network to relay telemetry from New Glenn back to Earth, paving the way for future NASA missions to do the same.
