Space Norway Arctic Satellite Mission Launched
Space Norway Arctic Satellite Mission Launched
Broadband Connectivity to Be Delivered to the Arctic From Polar Orbits
The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) was successfully launched from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California Monday.
"With the successful launch of the ASBM satellites we are a major step closer to providing broadband to civilian, government and military users in the Arctic.”
Kjell-Ove Skare, Space Norway
The mission, led by the Space Norway subsidiary Heosat, will see two satellites deployed in a highly elliptical orbit (HEO) in the world's first HEO mission carrying a broadband commercial service payload. The two satellites – ASBM-1 and ASBM-2 – will host the GX10A and GX10B Ka-band payloads, which Viasat will use to extend the company's high-speed global network with dedicated Arctic region coverage.
The satellites will be positioned into their orbit paths before technical testing and integration. The GX10A and 10B payloads are expected to enter service in early to mid-calendar year 2025.
The Arctic has rapidly growing connectivity demand as governments, commercial mobility customers and scientists continue to look North. Once in service, these new payloads will expand the coverage area served by Viasat, further strengthening the company's global coverage capabilities with dedicated capacity for the Arctic region.
Viasat is further expanding its high-speed broadband capacity and capabilities for government and commercial mobility customers with five new Ka-band satellites currently under construction, which are expected to enter service during the course of the next few years.
"With the successful launch of the ASBM satellites we are a major step closer to providing broadband to civilian, government and military users in the Arctic - which is the primary reason for this mission," said Space Norway Program Director, Kjell-Ove Skare. "This common goal has been the driving factor for Viasat, as well as for all parties involved in the ASBM program. It has truly been an excellent collaborative effort."
ASBM will operate in a highly elliptical orbit to provide secure and reliable communications in the critical Arctic region for both commercial and military communications. For this mission, Northrop Grumman provided the space vehicles and operating systems for power, propulsion, communications, command and data handling, thermal control and guidance and navigational control. Among the payloads are a U.S. Space Force EPS-R hosted payloads, X-band payloads for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, Ka-band payloads for Viasat and a Norwegian Radiation Monitor payload provided by Norwegian company IDEAS for the European Commission. Northrop Grumman also provided two Satellite Control Systems, located in Tromsø and Bardufoss, Norway, for Space Norway to operate these missions.