SES orders three new satellites

SES-16/GovSat

SES has ordered three new satellites – SES-14 to cover the Americas and North Atlantic, SES-15 to cover North America and SES-16/GovSat, which it is procuring jointly with the Luxembourg government.

SES-14 is scheduled for launch in Q4 2017 and will operate at 47.5/48 degrees West, where it will replace SES’s satellite NSS-806 and add new capacity.

It is a hybrid satellite with C- and Ku-band wide beam coverage, as well as Ku- and Ka-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) coverage. The Ku-band wide beams will serve direct-to-home and direct-to-cable video neighbourhoods in the Americas and support existing VSAT services.

SES-15 is due to launch in Q2 2017 and will open up a new orbital location to serve North America. Also carrying a hybrid payload, it will boost SES’s position in the aeronautical mobility and government markets.

LuxGovSat, a new joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg government, ordered SES-16/GovSat from satellite manufacturer Orbital ATK. It is scheduled to launch in Q2 2017 and will use dedicated military frequencies (X-band and military Ka-band) to provide spot beams for government-specific missions.