SES Partners With SpaceX to Launch MEO Communications System; Steve Collar Quoted

SES has partnered with SpaceX to deliver four O3b mPOWER spacecraft as part of SES’ next-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) communications system, SES announced Thursday.

“O3b mPOWER is the cornerstone of our multi-orbit, cloud-enabled, high-performance network that will serve our enterprise, mobility and government customers into the next decade, and we are merely a year away from its first launch,” said Steve Collar, CEO of SES.

The satellites will be launched into space on board four Falcon 9 rockets from Cape Canaveral to support the deployment of all O3b mPOWER satellites. SES’ O3b mPOWER communications system comprises 11 high-throughput and low-latency satellites, featuring an automated and intelligence-powered ground infrastructure. 

“SES’s selection of SpaceX to support the launch of the full O3b mPOWER constellation is a testament to our deep partnership built over the past decade,” said SpaceX vice president of commercial sales Tom Ochinero. “We look forward to working with SES to make history again through the successful deployment of this new system.”

SES satellites have been built by Boeing, and will generate thousands of dynamic beams that will deliver connectivity services ranging from 50Mbps to multiple gigabits per second to telecommunications, maritime, aeronautical and energy. 

SES and SpaceX’s next O3b mPOWER launch has been projected to launch in 2021, integrating terabit-scale capabilities of SES’s O3b mPOWER communications system. 

“We have a strong and long-standing partnership with SpaceX and we are excited to add the launches of additional O3b mPOWER satellites that will drive higher throughput, greater efficiency and substantially more bandwidth to our industry-leading network,” Collar added.