Article Posted on : - Oct 21, 2011

ViaSat-1 super-satellite launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday. Photo: Roscosmos.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian space agency has successfully launched the ViaSat-1 high-capacity satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

The Proton M launch vehicle lifted off the satellite from pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 06:48 pm (GMT).

The spacecraft was separated from the upper stage of the vehicle at the scheduled time of 8 hours 00 min. 44 sec. GMT.

ViaSat-1 is designed to transform the economics and quality of service that satellite broadband can provide, with the capacity to serve the accelerating growth in bandwidth demand for multimedia Internet access over the next decade and enable satellite to compete with terrestrial alternatives, according to the company release.

The high-capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite has planned coverage over North America and Hawaii. With a capacity estimated at 140 Gbps, ViaSat-1 will become the highest capacity satellite in the world once it is safely on orbit.