Production issues have delayed EchoStar’s Jupiter 3 satellite launch to at least the first half of 2023.
The payment relief from Maxar includes about $14,000,000 connected to raising Jupiter 3 to its orbital position following launch.
Jupiter 3 is undergoing final integration in preparation for performance tests that must be completed before it is shipped to the launchpad.
The updated contract gives EchoStar the right to terminate the agreement from January 2024 and receive more compensation if Jupiter 3 has not been delivered by then.
Maxar must pay EchoStar $10,000,000 for every additional month of delay in Jupiter 3 delivery after September 2023.
EchoStar ordered Jupiter 3 from Maxar in 2017 as part of a $445,000,000 contract.
Jupiter 3’s capacity of around 500 gigabits per second is more than double the capacity of Jupiter 2 that launched in 2017.
The payment relief from Maxar includes $44,500,000 plus 6% interest in deferred incentive payments that were conditioned on Jupiter 3’s in-orbit performance.
Jupiter 3 is due to provide around 500 gigabits per second of capacity over North and South America.
Maxar must pay EchoStar damages for every month Jupiter 3 is not delivered after the first half of 2023, totaling $21,000,000 if the satellite is delivered in September 2023.
JUPITER 3 is planned to launch in the first half of 2023.
Maxar Technologies is producing JUPITER 3 at its facility in Palo Alto, California.
Once in service, JUPITER 3 will deliver more than 500 Gbps of high-throughput satellite capacity.
Hughes plans to launch the ultra-high density JUPITER™ 3 satellite next year.
EchoStar’s Jupiter-3 Americas-focused high-throughput GEO satellite, being built by Maxar Technologies, is set to launch on a Falcon Heavy in 2023 instead of 2022.
EchoStar ordered the Jupiter-3 satellite from Maxar Technologies in 2017.
EchoStar's Jupiter-3 satellite will not launch before the first quarter of 2023.
Pandemic-related disruptions forced EchoStar to push Jupiter-3’s launch from 2021 into early 2022 and then into various later dates before the 2023 delay.
EchoStar selected SpaceX in late 2020 to provide a launch for Jupiter-3 to geostationary orbit.
Hughes is developing the JUPITER 3 ultra-high density satellite to enable service plans with speeds up to 100 Mbps.