A SPACEWAY Update

On August 14, 2007, the Hughes-owned SPACEWAY 3 satellite, the world’s first to employ onboard switching and routing capability, was successfully lifted into space by Arianespace from the European Teleport in Kourou, French Guiana. As of mid-December, Boeing has completed its placement into a geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator at 95o West longitude, and it has been handed over to Hughes to conduct over-the-air testing in preparation for service delivery. 

All systems are on track for this next-generation, Ka-band broadband satellite system to begin delivering HughesNet broadband services to enterprise, consumer, and government customers throughout North America in the first quarter of 2008. Look for more information about SPACEWAY in the next issue of Channels in early 2008.