The game changer

An extremely powerful commercial broadband satellite has just gone into orbit on an Ariane rocket. ViaSat-2, which is to be stationed above the Americas, has a total throughput capacity of about 300 gigabits per second. The spacecraft was part of a dual payload on the Ariane flight. It was joined by Eutelsat 172B, a UK/French-built platform to go over the Pacific. Both satellites will be chasing the rampant market for wi-fi on aeroplanes. Airlines are currently in a headlong rush to equip their fleets with connections that will allow passengers to use their mobile devices in mid-air.

More than 6,000 commercial aircraft worldwide were offering an onboard wi-fi service in 2016; it is expected more than 17,000 will be doing so by 2021. In-flight internet has traditionally had a terrible reputation, but the latest technology might give passengers a meaningful slice of bandwidth and at a competitive price.

ViaSat-2

ViaSat-2 is a commercial communications satellite which will be the world's highest capacity communications satellite after it becomes commercially available in early 2018 with a throughput of 300 Gbit/s, succeeding EchoStar XIX launched in December 2016. It is the second Ka-band satellite launched by ViaSat after ViaSat-1. It will provide satellite internet through Exide Internet to North America, parts of South America, the Caribbeanand the Atlantic Ocean.

Analysis

The Ariane left the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 20:45 local time, Thursday (23:45 GMT), expelling the satellites into their transfer orbits about half an hour later. Both must now get themselves into their final positions. ViaSat-2 and 172B will be using electric engines to do this. These work by accelerating and expelling ions at high speed. The process provides less thrust than a standard chemical engine, but saves substantially on propellant mass.

The US, Boeing-built ViaSat-2 uses a mix of chemical and electric propulsion, but Eutelsat's platform is all-electric - the first such design to come from Europe's biggest space manufacturer, Airbus. ViaSat-2 will be providing broadband services to fixed customers across North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and a portion of northern South America.

ViaSat-2's "footprint" touches the western coast of Europe, but aeroplanes travelling further east will be handed seamlessly to a better-positioned Eutelsat spacecraft, which should enable passengers to stay connected all the way across to Turkey if needs be. Eutelsat's 172B spacecraft is going to target amongst other business the flight corridors of the Asia-Pacific region. And it has some very smart British technology to do this in the form of a multi port amplifier.

In 2020, approximately 50% of aircraft could have opted for their chosen connectivity solutions, and certainly all of the major airlines will have made that choice. By that stage the market share could decide who are the winners and losers, and we anticipate seeing some consolidation in this sector, with two to three companies coming to dominate the market.  

Assessment

This spacecraft is being built to have a total capacity of one terabit per second. This could be one of the benefits of the strategic alliance that the two satellite companies have formed. Euroconsult, the woris one of the world's leading analyst groups following the satellite industry. Its research confirms the rapid growth now taking place, and says this will only accelerate.

In-flight connectivity has mostly been restricted to the US. But now it is expanding into the Asia-Pacific region and it's also coming to Europe. A spontaneous demand from airlines is seen and it's booming. In the next few years a massive quantity of bandwidth onboard the plane will be developed & that's a game-changer.