Carlsbad satellite operator ViaSat has hired Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch its new high capacity ViaSat-2 Internet satellite in the late summer of 2016.

SpaceX, a privately held builder of rockets that supply the International Space Station under a contract with NASA, will use its biggest rocket, the Falcon Heavy, to put ViaSat-2 into orbit.



The Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest launch vehicle — the Falcon 9 — at one-third the cost, according to ViaSat.

The launch will take place from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a launch window running from August through October next year, said Bruce Rowe, a ViaSat spokesman.

Asked why ViaSat chose SpaceX, Rowe said one reason is ViaSat Chief Executive Mark Dankberg “thinks they are like us. They are trying to do stuff nobody has done before.”

Besides SpaceX, Musk also heads Tesla Motors, which makes popular, all-electric luxury cars.

About four years ago, ViaSat transformed itself from a sleepy maker of communications equipment into a satellite operator with the ViaSat-1. The company used a novel design to offer much faster speeds to Internet subscribers. The company’s Exede service provides 12 megabits per second download speeds starting at $50 a month.

Launched in late 2011 from Kazakhstan, ViaSat-1 powers 657,000 residential Internet subscribers today. With 140 gigabits of total capacity, it’s also the backbone behind fast in-flight Wi-Fi on about 300 JetBlue and United Airlines commercial jets.

Exede has monthly data usage caps on many of its service plans, however. That has been a drawback for potential subscribers who want to play online games or download movies.

ViaSat-2 uses a new architecture to get more capacity and broader geographic coverage than ViaSat-1. The company says the new satellite will not only serve North America but also Central America and the Caribbean.

In addition, the satellite will provide a bridge of coverage across the North Atlantic, connecting North America with Europe for in-flight Wi-Fi and other mobile services.

ViaSat-2 also will have twice the bandwidth economics of ViaSat-1, the company said.

“One of the primary objectives for ViaSat-2, beyond higher speeds, is to offer more data with all of our service plans,” said Dankberg in a statement. “We can do that by building a network with lots more network capacity at a cost that will attract more customers, and that’s what this new class of satellite is designed to do.”

ViaSat hired Boeing to build its new $350 million satellite. The total cost for ViaSat-2, including construction, launch, insurance, ground equipment and other expenses, is $625 million.

ViaSat announced it deal with SpaceX on Monday. Its shares ended trading Wednesday down 54 cents at $56.65 on the Nasdaq.