Space Norway, Viasat eyes Arctic region broadband coverage

The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) – which is led by the Space Norway subsidiary Heosat – has successfully launched from Vandenburg Space Force Base. It will see two satellites deployed in a highly elliptical orbit (HEO). As such, it will be the world’s first HEO mission carrying a broadband commercial service payload, highlighted Viasat.

The two satellites – ASBM-1 and ASBM-2 – will host the GX10A and GX10B Ka-band payloads. Viasat will use these to extend its global network with dedicated Arctic region coverage.

The satellites will be positioned into their orbit paths before technical testing and integration, says company. And the GX10A and 10B payloads are expected to enter service in early to mid calendar year 2025.

You can read more about ASBM here.

Orbit

The satellites will run in a TAP (Three Apogee Period) orbit. The highest orbital altitude (apogee) will be 43500 km and the lowest an orbital altitude of 8100 km (perigee). The satellites will run in the same orbital plane with a 63-degree inclination and 8 hours separation.

Each orbit takes 16 hours and by employing two satellites it provides full coverage throughout the Arctic north of 65 ° N.  Heosat adds that the satellites are active for about 10 hours in each orbit. This gives the satellites up to 2 hours of overlap where both satellites are operational while covering the entire area north of 65 degrees.

Arctic

“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.”

The satellites were launched from Vandenburg Space Force Base (on the Falcon 9 rideshare that also carried Kuva Space’s hyperspectral camera).

Heosat

Heosat’s purpose is to establish broadband in the arctic, it says. Work on the program formally began in July 2019 – after several years of preparatory work.

The ASBM was originally a partnership involving Space Norway, the Norwegian Armed Forces, Inmarsat and the U.S. Space Force.

Also, Northrop Grumman Space Systems (formerly Orbital Corporation) built the two satellites based on the GEOstar 3 platform.

As well as the Ka-band payloads for Viasat, the satellites will have X-band for the Norwegian Armed Forces and a separate payload for the U.S. military.

One of the satellites will include a radiation monitoring instrument built by the Norwegian company IDEAS and the ESA. This gathers information about the radiation environment in the satellite orbits.

It will also contribute information for the planning of radiation protection for the next generation of Galileo satellites (Europe’s navigation system), highlights HEOSAT.

See also: Swedish Esrange Spaceport opens for European orbital launches