Boeing to Build Seven Medium Earth Orbit Satellites for SES
The O3b mPOWER satellites will include Boeing’s most-advanced digital payload technology and will be built using electronics from the flight-proven 702 satellite platform customized to support the unique MEO environment. (Credit: Boeing)
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 11, 2017 (Boeing PR) – Boeing [NYSE: BA] will design and build seven super-powered medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites for SES, delivering efficient high-performance data communications services to users around the world.
The O3b mPOWER satellites will include Boeing’s most-advanced digital payload technology and will be built using electronics from the flight-proven 702 satellite platform customized to support the unique MEO environment.
“With this new technology and design, Boeing is able to build satellites faster and more cost-effectively while still providing the high performance our customers have come to expect from Boeing digital satellites,” said Paul Rusnock, chairman and CEO, Boeing Satellite Systems International, Inc. “This latest digital payload design has an unprecedented level of technology integration, built-in test capability and is modular and scalable for all orbits.”
“The SES O3b mPOWER system opens a new era of connectivity, fundamentally transforming the role and capabilities of satellites,” said Karim Michel Sabbagh, president and CEO at SES. “O3b mPOWER is a unique system with exponentially more power, performance and flexibility, which sets the technology at the highest level, offering a visionaryroadmap for next generation technology.”
The satellites are designed to be launched up to four at a time in a stacked configuration, depending on the selected launch vehicle.
Starting in the 1990s, Boeing has built 12 satellites for SES. The latest, SES-15, was launched earlier this year.
For more information on Defense, Space & Security, visit www.boeing.com. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.
2 responses to “Boeing to Build Seven Medium Earth Orbit Satellites for SES”
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I like this plan. it would seem to be less risky than a LEO constellation requiring hundreds of satellites. Basing the satellites on the proven 702 satellite platform reduces the risk as well.
I like the plan also but it is serving a different market. O3b (“Other 3 billion”) was founded to deliver broadband access to billions of people who don’t have any Internet access today. IIRC, they work with local cell towers. In many developing nations, the cell towers have little bandwidth for data and have limited connectivity with one another. People can use cell phones but they’re still pretty isolated. Systems like O3b use satellites with spot beams to deliver broadband. This new system also mentions marketing broadband to ships, a market currently served (at a pretty stiff price) by INMARSAT.