ViaSat-3 Deployment Problem Could Affect Satellite's Performance

A problem with a reflector on ViaSat-3 Americas "may materially impact" the satellite's performance, Viasat said Wednesday. The reflector event happened during deployment, it said. Viasat said it's looking at contingency plans to minimize the economic effect, including redeploying satellites from Viasat’s fleet to optimize global coverage, and reallocating a subsequent ViaSat-3 class satellite to provide additional Americas bandwidth. “We’re disappointed by the recent developments,” said CEO Mark Dankberg. “We’re working closely with the reflector’s manufacturer to try to resolve the issue." ViaSat-3 Americas' service priority is growing the company's North American broadband service, and Viasat said the reflector problem isn't disrupting customers and isn't affecting coverage or capacity of the Viasat or Inmarsat constellations in service now. ViaSat-3 launched at the end of April (see 2305010013).