SES has announced an agreement with SpaceX to launch two new satellites— SES-14 and SES-16/ GovSat — in 2017, using the Falcon 9 rocket.
SES-14 is a hybrid satellite to be positioned at 47.5/48 degrees West with C- and
Ku-band wide beam coverage, as well as Ku- and Ka-band High Throughput Satellite
(HTS) coverage, across the Americas and the North Atlantic region. The satellite
will fully rely on electric propulsion and will be equipped with an electric plasma
propulsion system for orbit raising and in-orbit manoeuvres. SES-14 will bring
additional capacity to serve growing Direct-to-Home and Direct-to-Cable video
neighbourhoods in the Americas and support existing VSAT services in both bands.
The multi-spot Ku- and Ka-band beams will deliver additional, high throughput
capacity and are ideal for traffic-intensive data applications such as mobile
backhaul, maritime and aeronautical services.
SES-16/GovSat has been ordered by LuxGovSat, a new company jointly
incorporated by SES and the Luxembourg government, and will be positioned at
21.5 degrees East. It is a multi-mission satellite using dedicated military
frequencies (X-band and military Ka-band) to provide high-powered and fully
steerable spot beams for multiple government-specific missions. The satellite will
cover Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Luxembourg government has pre-committed to a significant amount of capacity on the new satellite in support of its
NATO obligations; the remaining capacity will be commercialised with governmental
and institutional customers.
The next SES satellite to be launched is SES-9, due later this year on Falcon 9. The
spacecraft will be positioned at the orbital slot of 108.2 degrees East, will provide
incremental as well as replacement capacity and will be co-located with the existing
SES-7 and NSS-11 satellites. The satellite will expand SES’s capabilities in the
provision of DTH broadcasting and other communications services in Northeast Asia,
South Asia and Indonesia, as well as maritime communications for vessels in the
Indian Ocean.
“SpaceX is an important launch partner to realise our new fleet investment and
growth program,’ said Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer (CTO) of SES. “With
SpaceX, we share the mission of innovating the space segment and technology,
achieving step changes in the design and economics of launchers, and leveraging
them to the advantage of our satellites, their profile, flexibility and performance,
and, above all, our customers. We are looking forward to working with the SpaceX
team on these two new missions.’
