SES S.A. has announced that it has selected Arianespace to launch the powerful new
hybrid communications satellite, SES-12, on board an Ariane 5 booster from the
European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, during Q4 2017.
The new satellite will expand SES’s capabilities to provide direct-to-home (DTH)
broadcasting, VSAT, mobility and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) data connectivity
services in the fast growing Asia-Pacific region, including rapidly growing markets
such as India and Indonesia.
The spacecraft will be positioned at the well-established SES orbital slot of 95
degrees East, providing incremental as well as replacement capacity with excellent
view angles across the Asia-Pacific region. SES-12 will replace SES’s existing NSS-6
satellite and will be co-located with SES-8. Today, SES serves close to 20 million
DTH households in India and Indochina from this orbital slot.
SES-12 is being built by Airbus Defence and Space based on the highly reliable
Eurostar E3000 platform. The satellite is designed to operate for 15 years, with a
payload comprised of 68 high-power physical Ku-band transponders and eight
physical Ka-band transponders. The spacecraft will be equipped with an electric
plasma propulsion system for orbit raising and on-orbit manoeuvres.
The payload of the hybrid SES-12 satellite consists of two distinct but
complementary missions: first, traditional wide beam coverage, and second, a high-
powered Ku-band multi spot beam payload (HTS).
The traditional wide-beam mission consists of 54 (36 MHz equivalent) transponders
that will provide state-of-the-art replacement and growth capacity for SES’s existing
DTH, government and VSAT customers, allowing for a seamless transition from
NSS-6 to SES-12. In addition, the design provides incremental growth capacity to
support new DTH platforms and other services targeting the Asia-Pacific region.
The second mission consists of 70 Ku-band spot beams and 11 Ka-band spot beams
delivering over 14 GHz for VSAT, enterprise, mobility and government applications.
This mission also includes a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) which provides
anti-jamming capabilities as well as increased payload flexibility in order to provide
customised bandwidth solutions to SES customers.
