Sky Muster II satellite set for October launch

The nbn Sky Muster II satellite is scheduled for launch in October 2016. Following on from the launch of nbn’s first satellite late last year, Sky Muster II will provide additional data capacity to support the delivery of the company’s satellite broadband service.

The rollout of Sky Muster satellites is designed to ensure that everyone has access to fast broadband by 2020. It will help bridge Australia’s digital divide for around 400,000 homes and businesses in regional and remote Australia by providing them with better access to distance online education and healthcare services, as well as the ability to run more efficient agribusinesses from our outback farms.

Julia Dickinson, nbn’s Satellite Architect, said: “The nbn Sky Muster satellite service is transforming the day-to-day lives of people from all over the country. We are already seeing how access to fast broadband for small businesses and farms in the most remote outback and offshore locations can improve productivity by better enabling the ability to store files in the cloud and avoid lengthy business trips by communicating with customers and suppliers through more reliable videoconferencing.

“This is an enormous project and we are doing our best to deliver the nbn Sky Muster service as fast as we can, but reaching all corners of the country will take some time.”

Access to the service will be beneficial for many regional and rural Australians. Alicia Garden, CEO of Grain Growers, said: “Grain Growers Limited represents grain farmers across Australia. Like any other business, grain farmers require fast, affordable, reliable internet connectivity to operate their enterprises to their potential. However, currently many farmers are not able to access connectivity comparable to their urban counterparts.

“Access to the nbn Sky Muster service signals a potential game changer for grain growers. It will enhance connectivity standards to improve the efficiency and profitability of Australian farming by changing the way farmers do business — in particular, their capacity to collect, analyse and apply agriculture data,” Garden added.

To ensure ordinary Australians could feel involved, nbn held a nationwide competition for people to ‘blast their face into space’, with the 700 winners’ faces to be printed in a mosaic on the nosecone of the rocket.

Image courtesy of Arianespace.