Advanced Television

dankberg

Viasat: “We know what’s wrong with ViaSat 3”

Viasat’s founder and CEO Mark Dankberg says that his engineers now have some understanding of what went wrong with the giant antenna on its ViaSat 3 Americas satellite. ViaSat 3 Americas launched on May 1st but its massive antenna failed to deploy. Viasat has subsequently initiated deliberate vibrations and ‘shakes’ to the satellite to attempt […]

September 20, 2023By Chris Forrester

Viasat faces key business challenge

It is not yet confirmed but the potential loss of a new satellite for Viasat of California could pose a major problem for the company. But some experts suggest the loss might prove to be a blessing in disguise. The satellite in question is Inmarsat I6-F2 craft, but the probable loss comes hard on the […]

August 29, 2023

Viasat: “Geo + Inmarsat can equal LEO”

In post-results comments to market analysts, Viasat’s chairman Mark Dankberg said the combination of its expanding ViaSat-3 ‘next generation’ satellites, plus the L-band services from Inmarsat (which it is in the process of acquiring) would equal the sort of rival satellite-based offerings from the likes of SpaceX/T-Mobile, Apple/Globalstar, Iridium/Qualcomm, Lynk Global and AST SpaceMobile. All […]

February 9, 2023

ViaSat-3 sets launch date; robust Q3

Viasat says its first ‘next-generation’ ViaSat-3 satellite will launch on around April 8th on a SpaceX rocket. Chairman Mark Dankberg told shareholders: “The ViaSat-3 system is intended to enable a substantial leap in space and ground technology – designed to deliver far more bandwidth per unit of capital, over very large coverage areas, with dynamic […]

February 8, 2023By Chris Forrester

Viasat wants ‘direct-to-cellular’ service

California-based satellite operator Viasat, itself in the process of acquiring Inmarsat of London, says that the combined operation plus – Viasat’s existing ground-based teleports – could lead to a ‘direct-to-cellular’ service. However, key to the proposed service is Inmarsat’s L-band frequencies. At the moment the proposed Inmarsat purchase is under investigation by the UK’s Competition […]

November 10, 2022By Chris Forrester

Dankberg retakes helm at Viasat

Mark Dankberg is reassuming overall supervision at California-based (and Nasdaq-quoted) Viasat. Dankberg has been executive chairman – and stepping aside from his CEO role – since November 2020. He co-founded the satellite operator in1986. Effective June 29 Dankberg is again chairman and CEO. The current president and CEO, Rick Baldridge, will become vice-chairman, a newly […]

June 30, 2022By Chris Forrester

ViaSat aims for 5TB of throughput

ViaSat is currently testing its next satellite – its first ViaSat-3 craft, and part of a three-satellite geostationary broadband constellation. It is due to launch later this summer and should supply 1TB/second of throughput. It will launch on a SpaceX rocket. ViaSat is also in the process of acquiring Inmarsat and ViaSat’s executive chairman, Mark […]

April 8, 2022By Chris Forrester

Viasat: “Industry must expect more cyber attacks”

California-based Viasat’s chairman Mark Dankberg, speaking at the Washington Satellite 2022, told delegates that the satellite industry should expect more attempts to compromise networks. Viasat’s European KA-SAT was hit by a deliberate cyber-attack on February 24th. “There will be worse cyber attacks than that if we’re not really vigilant,” Dankberg warned. He said that Viasat […]

March 24, 2022By Chris Forrester

ViaSat-3 delayed, but looking for opportunities

Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of Viasat, says his company’s plans to launch the ‘next generation’ Viasat-3 iteration of its satellites fleet are being affected by the Covid-19 crisis. Nevertheless, a recent cash-raising exercise gives Viasat some extra opportunities. “The Covid pandemic is definitely creating some issues for us to overcome, but we continue to […]

August 13, 2020