Société Européenne des Satellites
SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish communications satellite operator and a global leader in content and connectivity solutions, owning and operating over 70 satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO). They deliver video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments, and institutions. SES's major projects include operating the European Astra TV satellites and the O3b mPOWER data satellites, and they have partnerships with organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US Army. Associated keywords: satellite communications, GEO, MEO, connectivity, Luxembourg.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
In 2023, SES rolled out and tested more than 160 O3b mPOWER terminals over the existing O3b constellation to serve mobility, telecom, government, and enterprise customers.
SpaceX’s successful 2023-11-12 launch places SES on course to deploy an initial commercial O3b mPower service covering 96% of the world’s population in the second quarter of 2024.
Two additional O3b mPOWER satellites were launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States on 12 November 2023 at 4:08pm local time.
SES Space & Defense will support U.S. Department of Defense customers globally with MEO low-latency high-throughput satellite services under the BPA.
SES expects that getting the performance originally expected from the next-generation MEO constellation will require Boeing to build two more O3b mPower satellites than initially planned and to upgrade five others already in the works.
The contract is a task order awarded as part of a blanket purchase agreement that SES signed in 2018 with the Defense Information Systems Agency.
SES provides services to the U.S. government via its subsidiary SES Space & Defense, which is based in Reston, Virginia.
With the new contract, SES Space & Defense will support U.S. Department of Defense customers with MEO low-latency HTS services across the globe.
SES has started deploying its next-generation O3b mPower satellites that will provide 10 times more throughput than the legacy O3b satellites.
Planet Labs PBC was selected as a subcontractor by SES Space & Defense and Telesat Government Solutions in late 2022 to demonstrate real-time space-to-space connectivity solutions from Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to in-space communication satellites operated by SES and Telesat.
SES will implement potential mitigations for the O3b mPOWER delay including optimized use of its existing MEO and GEO fleet and additional programmes in progress.
SES plans to upgrade O3b mPOWER satellites 7–11 and add two further satellites (12–13) within its existing committed capital expenditure envelope.
The seventh and eighth O3b mPower satellites will now launch in the second half of 2024 to include Boeing’s remedies.
Each O3b mPower satellite was designed to scale to multiple gigabits per second of throughput, roughly 10 times the throughput of SES’s first-generation 20 O3b satellites in medium Earth orbit, with an operational life of about 10 years.
The launch of O3b mPOWER satellites 5 and 6 is planned for early 2023-11-01 and commercial service is expected to start from early 2024-04-01.
SpaceX has a contract to launch the 11 O3b mPower satellites under SES’s original order.
Boeing is under contract to supply 13 O3b mPower satellites rather than 11.
On 2023-10-31, SES identified electrical issues on the first four O3b mPower satellites in medium Earth orbit that will significantly reduce their operational life and broadband capacity.
SES expects the O3b mPower delay to reduce its 2024 revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by around 5%.
SES expects the O3b mPOWER delay to reduce 2024 revenue and Adjusted EBITDA by a mid-single-digit percentage before potential mitigations.