SpaceX Launches Falcon Heavy Rocket Carrying ViaSat-3 Internet Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from Florida on Wednesday, carrying a ViaSat internet satellite into space. The rocket boosted the ViaSat-3 satellite, the third in ViaSat's globe-spanning fleet of high-speed broadband relay stations, into its planned preliminary orbit. m.

EDT from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon Heavy's two side boosters executed on-target touchdowns on separate pads at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. These boosters, veterans of earlier flights, produced competing sonic booms during landing.

Two minutes and 25 seconds after liftoff, the side boosters peeled away and headed back for landing, with propellant reserves enabling their recovery. One minute and a half after the side boosters separated, the central core stage fell away. The core stage, making its first and only flight, burned all of its fuel as planned and was jettisoned to crash into the Atlantic Ocean.

The upper stage then took over, performing three engine firings to place the ViaSat-3 Flight 3 satellite into an elliptical orbit. This elliptical orbit allows the satellite's on-board propulsion to reach a circular geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. The ViaSat-3 Flight 3 satellite will provide internet access across Asia and the Pacific Ocean region.

CBS News reported that the satellite is equipped with solar panels generating 25 kilowatts of power and stretching 144 feet from tip to tip when fully unfolded. The satellites can handle up to 1 terabyte of data per second and feature the largest dish antenna ever launched on a commercial satellite.

The reflector unfolds atop an 80- to 90-foot-long telescoping boom, based on technology developed for the James Webb Space Telescope.

California-based ViaSat built the satellite's communications equipment, Boeing supplied the satellite, and a division of Northrop Grumman built the deployable reflector. This mission marked the 12th flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket since its maiden launch in 2018. The previous Falcon Heavy launch occurred in October 2024, sending NASA's Europa probe toward Jupiter.

The Falcon Heavy is powered by 27 Merlin engines in three strapped-together Falcon 9 first stage boosters. The first ViaSat-3 satellite launched in May 2023, but its antenna did not deploy properly, achieving only about 10 percent of its 1-terabyte capability. That satellite will be moved to an orbital location for limited coverage of Europe and Africa.

The second ViaSat-3 satellite launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in November and provides service across the Americas. Dave Abrahamian, ViaSat's vice president of Satellite Systems, stated: 'It's kind of the end of an era. He added: 'It's a different world now than when we started the program.

Back then, we had a handful of satellites in orbit. Since then, we've launched the two ViaSat-3s, we merged with Inmarsat, we've got the third one ready to go now. SpaceX has launched nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites in nearly 400 launches over the past seven years.

Blue Origin has launched 270 satellites for its planned constellation of 3,200 broadband satellites in low-Earth orbit.