Sky Muster™ II set to take to the skies

Aussie faces to be blasted into space on nbn™ rocket

10, 9, 8.. the countdown is on for the launch of nbn’s second satellite, Sky Muster™ II, scheduled to blast into space on 5 October 2016.

Taking off from French Guiana Space Centre in South America, it is set to orbit 36,000km into the sky and is one of the world’s largest communications satellites, weighing in at 6,400kgs.

Following the successful 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 world-leading satellite broadband service. 

The technology 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.

nbn today also revealed the first glimpse of the artwork that will be printed on the nosecone of the rocket, which will launch Sky Muster™ II into orbit.

Representing the millions of people in every corner of Australia which will be connected to the nbn™ network, the mosaic-style image is made up of more than 700 lucky Australians who won the chance to include an image of their face on this historic piece of national infrastructure.

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 video conferencing.

“To ensure every Australian, no matter where they live, could have the chance to be a part of this history-making moment, we held a nationwide callout for people to win the opportunity to ‘blast their face into space’. Representing the millions of connections made through the nbn™ network, the winners’ faces make-up a national portrait of our country, which will be printed on the nosecone of the rocket that will launch the Sky Muster™ II satellite into the sky.

“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.”

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.”

The Sky Muster™ satellites will bring nbn closer to their goal of connecting all Australians, with the rollout designed to ensure that everyone has access to fast broadband by 2020.

Visit our nbn™ blog series to learn more about the nbn™ Sky Muster™ service and how it is bridging the digital divide.

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Notes to editors

• nbn is building a new and upgraded, fast wholesale broadband network to enable communities across Australia to access fast broadband. Our goal is to connect eight million homes and businesses by 2020.
• Fast broadband like that delivered via the nbn™ network can provide a range of benefits for Australians such as opportunities to work from home, access to online education tools and options for on-demand entertainment.
• The nbn™ Sky Muster™ satellite service is available to more than 400,000 premises and 250,000 homes and businesses are expected to connect to the service via their Retail Service Provider (RSP).
• The nbn™ Sky Muster™ satellite service is designed to deliver wholesale broadband speeds of up to 25 Mbps download and up to 5 Mbps upload to retail service providers.
• There are currently more than 37,000 users on nbn™’s interim satellite service across Australia. nbn is aiming to migrate interim satellite users onto the new satellite within one year of the commercial launch (scheduled for May 2017), while at the same time migrating new users onto the service.
• End user experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ network, depends on the technology over which services are delivered to your premises and some factors outside our control like equipment quality, software, broadband plans, signal reception and how the end user’s service provider designs its network. Access to your work network will depend on factors outside our control like your organisation’s IT policy and infrastructure.