Overview
- Liftoff occurred at 10:04 p.m. EST toward geosynchronous transfer orbit, with separation expected about 3.5 hours later and on-orbit checks at 79° West, after a >95% favorable forecast that noted elevated solar activity risk.
- The attempt follows a scrub last week caused by a faulty liquid-oxygen vent valve that prompted a rollback, replacement at the Vertical Integration Facility, and return to the pad on Nov. 12.
- The 551 configuration used five solid rocket boosters with an RD-180 core and a Centaur upper stage slated for three RL10C burns to achieve the target orbit.
- The roughly 6-metric-ton ViaSat-3 F2, built on Boeing’s 702MP+ bus with electric propulsion and Spectrolab solar arrays, is designed for more than 1 Tbps of Ka-band throughput and dynamic beam forming.
- This flight is logged as AV-100 and the 105th Atlas V mission, leaving 11 vehicles before retirement, and it follows an earlier ViaSat-3 satellite that suffered an antenna deployment shortfall in 2023.