Imagine a delicate butterfly unfolding its wings for the first time as it emerges from the cocoon.
Now -- imagine that butterfly is a school bus-sized satellite, about 28 feet across. After being thrust into space on the launch vehicle, the satellite unfurls its stowed solar panels to span nearly 130 feet end to end. That’s even bigger than a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet!
The 9 metric ton Hughes JUPITER™ 3 spacecraft is on track to be the largest commercial satellite launched – but does bigger mean better? In this case, YES! Purpose-built to meet our customers’ needs and engineered like no satellite before, JUPITER 3 will bring 500 Gbps of capacity, doubling the size of the Hughes JUPITER satellite fleet and enabling us to serve even more customers across the Americas.
More capacity, more spot beams, more speed
Engineering innovation is one of our core values at Hughes, and nowhere is this reflected more than in the evolution of the JUPITER satellite fleet. With each satellite launched, we’ve continually increased capacity, enhanced our services and improved speeds. JUPITER 3 will bring the most capacity and highest speeds we ever been able to offer.
The 300 spot beams aboard JUPITER 3 will help alleviate network congestion while enabling a faster user experience. Deploying these very small, densely concentrated spot beams allows us to target capacity in the specific areas where our customers need it most. With coverage from Canada, across the U.S., Brazil and throughout South America, JUPITER 3 will expand the reach of our HughesNet satellite internet service to nearly 80% of the population across the Americas.
Those are just some of the features of this amazing feat of engineering. Download our infographic for more.
JUPITER 3 Quick Facts:
Spectrum: Ka-band, plus Q- and V-band for gateways
Coverage: North & South America
Download Speed: Up to 100 Mbps
Capacity: More than 500 Gbps
Stowed Size: about the size of a school bus
Deployed Size: Solar arrays span 10 stories!
Solar Panels: 14 total
Spot Beams: 300 spot beams
Gateways: 18 active gateways plus 2 diverse gateways for service continuity
Join us on the Journey to JUPITER 3 as we’re launching a new era of connectivity.