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O3b’s technical team developing and deploying unique satellite fleet

I climbed up the built-in ladder for a look inside one of O3b Networks’ gateway antennas during a series of factory tests at ViaSat in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s getting very exciting as we begin to ship hardware and prepare for the installation of our first gateway antennas. This is no longer a concept on paper and whiteboards. It’s now reality, as we orchestrate the global effort to build O3b’s ground and space systems.

O3b’s highly-skilled technical team is working across three continents and eleven countries to develop and deploy the hardware and software designed to deliver on O3b’s mission to make the Internet a truly global experience. We’re shipping our first three gateway antennas, ten ISO containers full of equipment, to Greece now and installation at the teleport will start in January.

O3b’s teleport in Nemea, Greece is the first of seven strategic gateways to be installed around the world, ahead of the launch of O3b’s initial fleet of eight Medium Earth Orbit satellites in early 2013. The ground system will support a combination of satellite control and customer services, including O3b’s new IP Trunking solution called O3b Trunk.

Our tier one antennas, like the one being tested thoroughly here at ViaSat, will be installed at customer locations around the world throughout 2012. These 4.5 meter dishes will deliver our O3b Trunk solutions and will surely play a key role in transforming the emerging world. That’s exciting.

While ground system tests are monitored in Atlanta, the first O3b satellite is being built half way around the world at a pair of Thales facilities in France. O3b CTO Brian Holz will be providing upcoming reports of his own on the space system. In a brief update this week, he writes, “The first O3b spacecraft will come together in February, as the platform and payload are integrated at Thales in Cannes, France. The payload is being installed on the satellite deck at the Thales lab in Toulouse, France and will be sent to Cannes for the final stages of construction.”

Perched up on our test gateway in Atlanta, I got a bird’s eye view of the O3b mission and the year ahead. The next year will be full of mission-critical tests, installations and milestones around the globe, all focused on delivering connectivity to unconnected places. We’re counting down to the launch of something very special.

Jay Bloom checks the surface alignment of tier-one antenna

O3b's Jay Bloom perched on the gateway terminal during system tests at ViaSat in Atlanta

O3b gateway and tier-one antenna are in system tests at ViaSat in Atlanta