Viasat, Inc., a global leader in satellite communications, today announced successful tests of its steerable beam high-speed GX10 Arctic communications payload in Northern Canada.

The demonstration flight, completed on a Calspan Gultstream III aircraft, enabled attendees from Viasat’s government and military partners to connect their own devices over more than 600 miles of Arctic territory and showcased the satellites’ steerable Mil-Ka beam capabilities.

The high-capacity GX10A and GX10B payloads are housed onboard Space Norway’s highly elliptical orbit (HEO) Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) spacecraft (ASBM-1 and ASBM-2). The satellites are operated using Space Norway’s secured earth ground stations in the north of Norway, while Viasat’s steerable beams and commercial payloads are controlled from its secure control center in the U.S.

Part of the Communication Services segment and Viasat’s Government Satcom business, the GX10 capabilities strengthen Viasat’s global coverage capabilities with dedicated capacity for the Arctic region and support its roadmap of delivering multi-orbit services.

Their onboard steerable Mil-Ka beams are designed to allow authorized military users to access our wideband capacity as part of their own independent network. This means governments will be able to steer satellite capacity anywhere within the arctic region above 63 degrees North: offering improved reliability and capacity for missions.

Government Mil-Ka connectivity solutions enable mission applications across air, land, sea, and space, including supporting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, border security, emergency response, and special forces operations.

Todd McDonell, President, International Government, said: “After bringing the payloads into service for government customers earlier this year, we’re excited we can now demonstrate how this new capacity and coverage can help enable assured, resilient communications for tactical and strategic government missions, alongside vital research and monitoring in the region.

“This is another step in Viasat’s ability to provide innovative, multi-orbit solutions and services to meet the changing connectivity requirements of government customers worldwide.”

He added, “This is another step in Viasat’s ability to provide innovative, multi-orbit solutions and services to meet the changing connectivity requirements of government customers worldwide.”

Featured image credited to Viasat