spacetoday.net: Viasat reports problem with ViaSat-3 Americas satellite

Posted: Sat, Jul 15, 2023, 7:20 AM ET (1120 GMT)
Viasat has encountered a problem deploying the main antenna on its new ViaSat-3 Americas satellite. The company said late Wednesday that "an unexpected event" took place during the deployment of the large reflector on the satellite after its launch at the end of April. The company did not elaborate on the problem but said it was working with the reflector's manufacturer to see if and how it can be fixed. The problem does not affect current services provided by Viasat but does impact plans for new broadband services in North America that the spacecraft would have offered. Viasat said it is working on ways "to minimize the economic effect" of the problem, which could mean redeploying existing spacecraft or reallocating a future ViaSat-3 spacecraft.