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71-501: O3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit ( MEO ) owned and operated by SES , and designed to provide lower-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, aviation, and government and defence. It is often referred to as O3b MEO to distinguish these satellites from SES's O3b mPOWER constellation. O3b originally stood for "other three billion", or

142-468: A latency five times lower than on the existing platform based on geostationary orbit satellites. On 16 December 2022, the first two of SES's next generation MEO satellite constellation, O3b mPOWER were successfully launched. The satellites will take approximately six months to reach their designated medium Earth orbit and for commissioning, and the O3b mPower service is expected to begin operations alongside

213-535: A contract to provide O3b's high throughput, low latency satellite communications for a US Department of Defense end-user. The agreement is for a 365 days-per-year service consisting of a full-duplex symmetric 155 Mbit/s link, gateway access, a transportable 2.4 metre terminal, terrestrial backhaul, and maintenance and installation services, with a latency of under 200 milliseconds per round trip. The contract also provides for additional capacity to meet surge requirements. In September 2017, SES announced O3b mPOWER ,

284-400: A contract with Viasat for the production and installation of Ka-band infrastructure. In July 2014, SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ), a subsidiary of (then O3b investor, now owner) SES, received approval to offer O3b services on their General Services Administration (GSA) schedule allowing SES GS to be the first distribution partner to offer O3b capability directly to

355-415: A day. Due to problems with a component of the first four satellites launched, three of those four have been placed on standby. Each satellite is equipped with twelve fully steerable Ka-band antennas (two beams for gateways, ten beams for remotes) that use 4.3 GHz of spectrum (2 × 216 MHz per beam) with a proposed throughput of 1.6  Gbit /s per beam (800  Mbit/s per direction), resulting in

426-619: A division of Thales Group . The first satellite (PFM) was built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center , while the rest of the constellation was assembled, integrated and tested in Thales Alenia Space Italy's Roman facilities. In September 2017, SES announced the next generation of O3b satellites and placed an order for an initial seven from Boeing Satellite Systems using a new satellite platform based on Boeing's 702 line of scalable buses. Expected to launch in 2021,

497-607: A geostationary satellite can be over 600   ms, but as low as 125   ms for a MEO satellite or 30   ms for a LEO system. Examples of satellite constellations include the Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo and GLONASS constellations for navigation and geodesy in MEO, the Iridium and Globalstar satellite telephony services and Orbcomm messaging service in LEO,

568-493: A low Earth orbit of under 2000 km altitude where latency can be as little 40ms, and by 2018 more than 18,000 new LEO satellites had been proposed to launch by 2025. However, a lower orbit also has drawbacks; satellites move faster relative to the ground and can "see" a smaller area of the Earth , and so for continuous widespread access require a constellation of many satellites, with complex constellation management and tracking by

639-516: A maximum of US$ 516.7 million over a five-year period. In September 2019, SES became a Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute services partner to provide dedicated, private network connectivity from sea vessels, aircraft, and industrial or government sites anywhere in the world to the Azure cloud computing service, via both its geostationary satellites and O3b MEO satellites. In August 2020 SES contracted Boeing to build four O3b mPOWER satellites in addition to

710-483: A maximum of three satellites, and the first three satellites expected to launch late in 2021, six more on two launches in 2022, and the final two in 2024. In September 2020, SES and Microsoft announced that SES was the medium Earth orbit connectivity partner for the Microsoft Azure Orbital ground station service that enables network operators to control their satellite operations and capacity from within

781-490: A number of SES' (GEO) satellites including GovSat-1 , and the O3b satellite constellation , with connections moving between GEO/MEO links in under 30 sec. In May 2022, in conjunction with Kazakhstani mobile network operator, Kcell , SES used the O3b satellite constellation to demonstrate that MEO satellites could be used to provide high-speed 3G and 4G connectivity to remote regions of Kazakhstan for reliable video calling, conferencing and streaming, and web browsing, with

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852-603: A one-year contract with US government scientific agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to supply O3b services and ground equipment to the National Weather Service Office in American Samoa , expanding NOAA's broadband connectivity outside the continental United States to provide weather, water, and climate data, and forecasts and warnings to American Samoa. In August 2016, SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ) announced

923-689: A partnership with SES for early access to the O3b mPOWER system, using a hybrid network of both MEO and geostationary satellites to provide connectivity to its fleet at sea. Also in February 2020, Orange , a user of the first generation O3b system in Africa and the Middle East since 2017, announced it would be the first telco to adopt the O3b mPOWER system, to extend its consumer and business broadband services in Africa, providing connectivity to remote locations, starting in

994-456: A satellite internet service for cruise lines using both O3b mPOWER MEO satellites and SpaceX 's Starlink low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation . Integrated, sold and delivered by SES, the SES Cruise mPOWERED + Starlink service claims to combine the best features of LEO and MEO orbits to provide high-speed, secure connectivity at up to 3 Gbps per ship, to cruise ships anywhere in

1065-513: A time on three launches in the third quarter of 2022, the next three on one rocket in Q4 2022 and the final two in 2024. The start of service for the O3b mPOWER system remains unchanged as the beginning of 2023. This schedule was subsequently changed in August 2022. In May 2022, SES subsidiary SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ), in partnership with Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC ,

1136-668: A total capacity of 16 Gbit/s per satellite. Each beam's footprint measures 700 km (430 mi) in diameter. O3b claims a mouth-to-ear one-way latency of 179 milliseconds for voice communication, and an end-to-end round-trip latency of 140 ms for data services. The maximum throughput per TCP connection is 2.1 Mbit/s. For maritime applications, O3b claims a round-trip latency of 140 ms, and connectivity speeds of over 500 Mbit/s. The satellites are powered by gallium arsenide solar arrays and lithium-ion batteries and weigh approximately 700 kg (1,500 lb) each. The satellites were constructed by Thales Alenia Space ,

1207-560: Is a communications satellite system owned and operated by SES . The system uses high-throughput and low- latency satellites in a medium Earth orbit (MEO), along with ground infrastructure and intelligent software, to provide multiple terabits of global broadband connectivity for applications including cellular backhaul and international IP trunking , cruise line connectivity, disaster recovery, and military communications. The first O3b mPOWER satellites were launched in December 2022 and

1278-411: Is a set of artificial satellites in circular orbits at a certain fixed altitude . In the design of satellite constellations, an orbital shell usually refers to a collection of circular orbits with the same altitude and, oftentimes, orbital inclination , distributed evenly in celestial longitude (and mean anomaly ). For a sufficiently high inclination and altitude the orbital shell covers

1349-460: Is initially using the existing first generation O3b satellites, before upgrading to the faster broadband speeds from O3b mPOWER satellites when they come into operation in 2022. In February 2022, SES formed a joint venture with India's biggest telco , Jio Platforms (JPL). The newly formed Jio Space Technology Limited will deliver broadband services in India of up to 100 Gbps capacity, using both

1420-415: Is now in excess of US$ 1 billion (gross $ 1,025 million, fully protected $ 835 million). In September 2023, SES announced that, following the launch of the first two O3b mPOWER satellites, RF end-to-end tests had been carried out successfully, validating key ground and space infrastructure components, and SES’s Adaptive Resource Control (ARC) network configuration software. In September 2023, SES announced

1491-507: The Amazon Web Services Direct Connect Delivery Partner programme, using the O3b constellation (and SES' fleet of geostationary satellites) to provide customers access to AWS cloud-based applications and services from locations around the world with limited or no terrestrial communications, and to provide the cloud provider a backup network if their infrastructure fails. In August 2021, Microsoft became

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1562-530: The Central African Republic . In August 2020, the order for an additional four O3b mPOWER satellites, also from Boeing, was announced. These satellites will be more powerful than the original seven, increasing the total throughput of the entire O3b mPOWER constellation by 90%. The expected launch pattern for the whole O3b mPOWER constellation was also changed, with SpaceX contracted to provide two further launches on Falcon 9 rockets, each rocket carrying

1633-583: The Disaster Monitoring Constellation and RapidEye for remote sensing in Sun-synchronous LEO, Russian Molniya and Tundra communications constellations in highly elliptic orbit , and satellite broadband constellations, under construction from Starlink and OneWeb in LEO, and operational from O3b in MEO. There are a large number of constellations that may satisfy a particular mission. Usually constellations are designed so that

1704-529: The Explora I , the first ship of MSC's forthcoming luxury cruise line Explora Journeys, expected to enter service in Spring 2023. In August 2022, SES revealed that the O3b mPOWER launch schedule had been revised again. The first six O3b mPOWER satellites would now be carried on three launches in Q4 2022, the fourth launch of O3b mPOWER 7 and 8 would be in 2023 and the fifth, for O3b mPOWER 9, 10 and 11, in 2024. The system

1775-1013: The Global Mercy , the world's largest civilian hospital ship. In February 2021, SES announced two contracts with the US Department of Defense as part of the June 2018 blanket purchase agreement . One is for a portable O3b service to support forward-deployed military personnel and the second to provide O3b mission-critical communications without using a commercial gateway in remote locations in Southwest Asia, managed and controlled from an SES Network Operations Center. Also in February 2021, SES announced that its Signature Cruise broadband connectivity via O3b will be used on Virgin Voyages ' latest ships Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady to provide passengers with free fast onboard wi-fi internet access. In June 2021, SES joined

1846-480: The O3b mPOWER constellation of medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites for broadband internet services will "be able to deliver anywhere from hundreds of megabits to 10 gigabits to any ship at sea" through 30,000 spot beams. Software-defined routing will direct traffic between the mPOWER MEO satellites and SES' geostationary fleet. In August 2020, SES contracted Boeing to build four additional O3b mPOWER satellites and SpaceX

1917-669: The SES's fleet of geostationary satellites, and with SpaceX 's Starlink low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation , providing full multi-orbit capability. The O3b mPOWER satellites are based on Boeing 's multi-orbit BSS-702X satellite bus with an all-electric propulsion system and a payload that can be reprogrammed from the ground to reallocate resources "on the fly". The electronically steered phased array antennas can provide up to 5000 spot beams per satellite each shaped and pointed as required to specifically distribute power and bandwidth to individual user's terminals and, using

1988-448: The U.S. Government . In November 2014, MS Quantum of the Seas became the first cruise ship to provide fast internet to guests through O3b Networks. The service is branded "Voom" by its cruise line, Royal Caribbean International and it was subsequently rolled out to every ship in their fleet. In August 2015, SES subsidiary, SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ) agreed on

2059-456: The 360 degrees around the equator . The "1" defines the phasing between the planes, and how they are spaced. The Walker Delta is also known as the Ballard rosette, after A. H. Ballard's similar earlier work. Ballard's notation is (t,p,m) where m is a multiple of the fractional offset between planes. Another popular constellation type is the near-polar Walker Star, which is used by Iridium . Here,

2130-704: The ARC (Adaptive Resource Control) software to enable the dynamic control and optimisation of power, throughput, beams and frequency allocation on O3b mPOWER and other future high-throughput satellites (such as the geostationary SES-17 , launched in October 2021; in position and fully operational in June 2022). Also in September 2019, SpaceX was contracted to launch the first seven O3b mPOWER satellites using Falcon 9 rockets with two launches of four and three satellites planned for 2021. In February 2020, Princess Cruises announced

2201-698: The Azure cloud computing service. Under their agreement, SES and Microsoft will jointly invest in Azure Orbital ground stations for the MEO and Earth Observation segments, initially in the United States , which will be installed and managed by SES. Also, satellite telemetry, tracking and control systems and data ground stations for the O3b mPOWER satellites will be located with Microsoft's Azure edge sites to provide O3b mPOWER customers with "one-hop" access to Azure cloud services. In November 2020, SES announced that Gilat and ST Engineering iDirect are developing

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2272-793: The Azure cloud computing service. Under their agreement, SES and Microsoft will jointly invest in Azure Orbital ground stations for the MEO and Earth Observation segments, initially in the United States, which will be installed and managed by SES. Also, satellite telemetry, tracking and control systems and data ground stations for the O3b mPOWER satellites will be located with Microsoft's Azure edge sites to provide O3b mPOWER customers with "one-hop" access to Azure cloud services. In October 2020, international charity hospital ships provider, Mercy Ships announced it will be using SES's Signature Maritime connectivity services via O3b satellites to provide remote viewing and diagnosis, and remote training on board

2343-575: The O3b mPOWER constellation and SES's SES-12 high-throughput geostationary satellite, to extend JPL’s terrestrial network, enhancing access to digital services in unconnected areas within India and the region. JPL and SES will own 51% and 49% equity stake respectively in the new company. In February 2022, Orange announced that, along with SES, it will deploy and manage the first O3b mPOWER gateway in Africa, to provide high-speed, low-latency, and cloud-optimised connectivity services across Africa, and to support telemetry, tracking and command functions for

2414-444: The O3b mPOWER launch schedule. The first two O3b mPOWER satellites would now be launched in mid-December 2022, The next four satellites would be carried on two launches in Q1 2023, two more on another launch later in 2023, and the final three satellites launched in 2024. it will take approximately six months after launch for each satellite to reach its designated orbit and for commissioning, and

2485-597: The O3b mPOWER network, and to build a satellite gateway at the heart of the Profen networks. In June 2023, the Luxembourg Parliament approved funding of €195m over 10 years for the Medium Earth Orbit Global Services programme to provide capacity on the O3b mPOWER network for defence, security, and disaster recovery, to Luxembourg, its partners and NATO . Previously slated for Q2 2023, the launch of

2556-567: The O3b mPOWER satellites. The gateway will be located at the Sonatel teleport in Gandoul, Senegal . In March 2022, SES announced the acquisition of DRS Global Enterprise Solutions (GES), a US-based subsidiary of defence contractor, Leonardo DRS which provides managed satcom services to the US Defence Department and other government agencies. When the transaction is concluded (expected towards

2627-681: The O3b mPower service is now expected to start in Q3 2023. In August 2023, the service start date was revised to Q4 2023. On 16 December 2022, the first two O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:48 pm local time . The two satellites had been 'mated' and fueled with the Xenon gas for their plasma thrusters at Boeing’s factory in El Segundo, California before delivery to Cape Canaveral, considerably reducing

2698-492: The O3b system started full commercial service on 1 September 2014. The third launch of four took place in December 2014, bringing the satellite constellation to 12 satellites. Four years later, four additional satellites were launched on 9 March 2018 on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Centre Spatial Guyanais . In December 2018, Thales Alenia Space said that tests on the final four O3b satellites would be completed by

2769-681: The US Army has conducted trials of commercial satellite constellations in multiple orbits, including the O3b satellite system, as part of the effort to establish Multi-Domain Operations . In December 2021, Honeywell , Hughes Network Systems and SES demonstrated multi-orbit high-speed airborne connectivity for military customers using Honeywell's JetWave MCX terminal and a Hughes HM-series modem, and SES satellites in both medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO). The tests achieved full duplex data rates of more than 40 megabits per second via

2840-422: The capacity of the existing constellation of 12 (now 20) first-generation O3b satellites. In March 2018, SES announced partnerships with Alcan Systems , Isotropic Systems and Viasat to develop compact, high-throughput user terminals for the O3b mPOWER system. In September 2019, SES announced it had partnered with satellite payload and network management systems developer, Kythera Space Solutions to develop

2911-508: The constellation to mitigate the problem. SES has a claim with insurers for $ 472 million relating to satellites 1-4. On 12 November 2023, the fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The two satellites will join O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 (launched in December 2022) and O3b mPOWER 3 and 4 (launched in April 2023) in medium Earth orbit (MEO) and enable

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2982-678: The constellation. From MEO, the O3b mPOWER satellite constellation can deliver high-bandwidth connectivity between latitudes 50° N and 50° S (covering 96% of the global population) to mobile and/or remote terminals of 0.3 m to 5.5 m, and is finding application in the following markets: Proposed additional satellites operating in a second medium earth orbit at an inclination of 70° would give near-complete global coverage. In September 2017, SES announced Boeing would build seven "super-powered" medium earth orbit satellites for launch in 2021 to provide flexible and scalable, low-latency satellite-based networks with terabits of throughput, hugely expanding

3053-399: The coverage area provided by a single satellite only covers a small area that moves as the satellite travels at the high angular velocity needed to maintain its orbit . Many MEO or LEO satellites are needed to maintain continuous coverage over an area. This contrasts with geostationary satellites, where a single satellite, at a much higher altitude and moving at the same angular velocity as

3124-400: The end of 2022 after regulatory approvals) the business will be combined with SES subsidiary, SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ), greatly expanding market access for the O3b mPOWER system at the time it is planned to begin operations. In May 2022, SES announced that the revised launch schedule for the O3b mPOWER satellites would see the first six satellites carried two at

3195-458: The end of January 2019 and the four satellites were successfully launched on 4 April 2019. In 2010, operators in the Cook Islands , Pakistan and Nigeria were among the first to prebook capacity on the O3b constellation to serve their respective markets. In 2010, O3b announced the selection of Europe Media Port to be the first provider of Gateway Teleport services for O3b's global network and

3266-566: The entire orbited body. In other cases the coverage extends up to a certain maximum latitude . Several existing satellite constellations typically use a single orbital shell. New large megaconstellations have been proposed that consist of multiple orbital shells. Total number of operational satellites: 634 as of 20 May 2023 Other Internet access systems are proposed or currently being developed: Some systems were proposed but never realized: Satellite constellation simulation tools: More information: O3b mPOWER O3b mPOWER

3337-467: The existing O3b constellation in Q3 2023. The second pair of O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched on 28 April 2023, by which time the first pair of satellites had reached medium Earth orbit and were undergoing in-orbit testing. The satellites are deployed in a circular orbit along the equator at an altitude of 8,063 km (5,010 mi) ( medium Earth orbit ) at a velocity of approximately 11,755 mph (18,918 km/h), each making 5 orbits

3408-535: The fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites, to provide the six satellites in orbit required for the service to start in Q3 2023, is now expected in July or later, with further O3b mPOWER satellites 7 and 8 launching together by the end of 2023, and 9, 10 and 11 in 2024. In August 2023, SES announced that the combined contract backlog for the O3b mPOWER system, along with the SES-17 high-throughput GEO satellite (launched 2021)

3479-515: The first cloud provider customer for O3b, with Microsoft buying managed satellite connectivity services from SES for the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service. Microsoft is initially using the existing first generation O3b satellites, later upgrading to the faster broadband speeds from second generation O3b mPOWER satellites. In December 2021, SES's wholly owned subsidiary SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ) announced that

3550-530: The first four O3b satellites reached orbit on a Soyuz-2 / Fregat-MT launch vehicle by Arianespace on 25 June 2013. After discovering a hardware defect in the initial satellites, O3b postponed the planned September 2013 launch of four additional satellites so repairs could be made. The second four satellites were launched by the same type of rocket from the Space Center in French Guiana , on 10 July 2014 and

3621-550: The first four satellite were in orbit, and the fifth and sixth about to be launched, it was discovered that they were afflicted with electrical issues that reduce their operational life and broadband capacity. Satellites 5 and 6 were nevertheless launched in November 2023, to maintain the initial service start date. To achieve the performance originally expected from the whole system, modifications will be made to satellites 7-11, under construction by Boeing, and two additional craft added to

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3692-408: The five top cruise companies have contracted connectivity services using the O3b mPOWER system ahead of the satellites' launch and with the majority extending beyond 2025. In August 2021, Microsoft became the first cloud computing provider customer for the O3b satellite system, with Microsoft buying managed satellite connectivity services from SES for the Microsoft Azure cloud service. Microsoft

3763-631: The focus for HTS to lower orbits. The lower the altitude of the orbit, the closer the satellite is to the Earth and the lower the latency and path losses (enabling lower ground station and satellite power, and costs for the same throughput) The propagation delay for a round-trip internet protocol transmission via a geosynchronous satellite can be over 550 ms, and such latency is the bane of digital connectivity, in particular for automated stock trades, hardcore gaming and Skype video chats. So, many proposed non-geosynchronous satellite internet services have adopted

3834-511: The full Ka-band spectrum, enable uncontended speeds from 50 Mbit /s up to 10 Gbit/s. With frequency reuse, each O3b mPOWER satellite can deliver hundreds of gigabits in capacity, with multi-terabit capabilities across the full constellation. SES' Adaptive Resource Control (ARC) software and digital payload processing systems synchronise space and ground system resources to electronically control routing, power levels, throughput, and frequency allocation dynamically, in real time. When

3905-457: The globe. In October 2024, national airlines, Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines selected SES Open Orbits for aircraft across their fleets. In September 2024, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency awarded its first contract for MEO satellite services to SES, to provide NATO members with capacity on the O3b mPOWER network for secure naval, air, and ground communications missions around

3976-421: The ground stations. Medium Earth orbit, although higher in altitude than LEO is nevertheless much lower than geosynchronous orbit and so shares many of the advantages of LEO while reducing its drawbacks: Satellite constellation Satellite constellations should not be confused with: Satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) are often deployed in satellite constellations, because

4047-534: The modem platforms and ground infrastructure for the O3b mPOWER communications system. In December 2020, SES agreed with Australian telco , Pivotel Group Pty to build a new ground station at Pivotel's teleport in Dubbo , New South Wales to use the O3b mPOWER system to provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity across Australia , New Zealand and the Pacific Islands . In February 2021, SES announced that four of

4118-616: The next generation of MEO satellites to expand the capacity of the existing O3b constellation of (then) 12 satellites. Initially seven O3b mPOWER satellites were ordered from Boeing for launch in 2021 to provide flexible and scalable, low-latency satellite-based networks with terabits of throughput. In June 2018, the US Department of Defense signed a single-award blanket purchase agreement with SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense ) for MEO high throughput, low latency satellite services including managed broadband services, gateway services, and monitoring and control services, to

4189-464: The other three billion people at the time that did not have stable internet access, and the constellation was initially built, owned and operated by O3b Networks , which became a wholly owned subsidiary of SES in 2016 and ownership and operation of the constellation passed to SES Networks , a division of SES. The O3b MEO constellation began offering service in March 2014. Initially planned to launch in 2010,

4260-411: The rotation of the Earth's surface, provides permanent coverage over a large area. For some applications, in particular digital connectivity, the lower altitude of MEO and LEO satellite constellations provide advantages over a geostationary satellite, with lower path losses (reducing power requirements and costs) and latency. The propagation delay for a round-trip internet protocol transmission via

4331-598: The satellite is at a constant altitude requiring a constant strength signal to communicate. A class of circular orbit geometries that has become popular is the Walker Delta Pattern constellation. This has an associated notation to describe it which was proposed by John Walker. His notation is: where: For example, the Galileo navigation system is a Walker Delta 56°:   24/3/1 constellation. This means there are 24 satellites in 3 planes inclined at 56 degrees, spanning

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4402-503: The satellites are in near-polar circular orbits across approximately 180 degrees, travelling north on one side of the Earth, and south on the other. The active satellites in the full Iridium constellation form a Walker Star of 86.4°:   66/6/2, i.e. the phasing repeats every two planes. Walker uses similar notation for stars and deltas, which can be confusing. These sets of circular orbits at constant altitude are sometimes referred to as orbital shells. In spaceflight , an orbital shell

4473-521: The satellites have similar orbits, eccentricity and inclination so that any perturbations affect each satellite in approximately the same way. In this way, the geometry can be preserved without excessive station-keeping thereby reducing the fuel usage and hence increasing the life of the satellites. Another consideration is that the phasing of each satellite in an orbital plane maintains sufficient separation to avoid collisions or interference at orbit plane intersections. Circular orbits are popular, because then

4544-419: The seven ordered in 2017. SpaceX was contracted for additional launches, to make four launches for the whole O3b mPOWER constellation, expected in 2021–2024. In September 2020, SES and Microsoft announced that SES was the medium Earth orbit connectivity partner for the Microsoft Azure Orbital ground station service that enables network operators to control their satellite operations and capacity from within

4615-717: The start of the service in February 2024. In November 2023, the US Department of Defense awarded SES a blanket purchase agreement worth up to US$ 270 million over five years for global HTS managed services on the O3b system. In May 2024, SES announced the Open Orbits Inflight Connectivity Network which combines SES's Ka-band GEO satellite network and the O3b mPOWER network with independent satellite networks of regional operators, including NEO Space Group, AeroSat Link, and Hughes Communications India, to enable inflight video and data connectivity to seamlessly move between operators as an aircraft traverses

4686-487: The system became operational in April 2024 with 6 satellites. The system's capacity will be increased by a further 7 satellites launched by 2026. The O3b mPOWER satellites use fully shapable and steerable spot beams that can be shifted and scaled in real time to suit individual users. The satellites join SES' existing constellation of 20 first-generation O3b satellites in MEO and they can be used in conjunction with them, with

4757-637: The time required at the spaceport to ready them for launch. On 28 April 2023, the second pair of O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:12 pm local time, by which time the first pair of satellites had reached medium Earth orbit and were undergoing in-orbit testing. In May 2023 SES announced an agreement with Istanbul -based Profen Group to provide low-latency high-performance connectivity services to energy companies, government agencies, telco companies and humanitarian aid organisations in Turkey using

4828-595: The world. Subsequently, in February 2024, SES announced that Virgin Voyages will be the first cruise line to deploy the service. In October, SES announced that the launch of satellites 5 and 6 would be in early November 2023, and the start of commercial service of the O3b mPOWER system was expected in Q2 2024; the delays caused by power module problems in the first four satellites already in orbit. SES said that satellites 7 and 8 (to launch H2 2024) and 9-11 (to launch 2025) would be upgraded and two further satellites (12-13) added to

4899-444: Was awarded a US$ 28.96 million contract from NASA ’s Communications Services Project for real-time , always-on low-latency connectivity services to NASA spacecraft, using SES's geostationary orbit satellites and medium Earth orbit satellites, including the O3b mPOWER constellation. In June 2022, SES announced that it will provide global connectivity services to MSC Cruises using the O3b mPOWER system. The service will start on

4970-618: Was contracted for an additional two launches, to make four launches for the whole O3b mPOWER constellation in 2022–2024. O3b MEO is currently the only high-throughput satellite (HTS) system for internet services to use the medium Earth orbit; most other existing and proposed systems use satellites in either geosynchronous orbit (GEO) or low Earth orbit (LEO). Although previous satellite internet services primarily used geosynchronous satellites (SES has four geostationary HTS in orbit – Astra 2E , SES-12 , SES-14 and SES-15 ), demand for increased bandwidth and for lower latency has shifted

5041-586: Was expected to start service in Q2 2023. In October 2022, SES announced a capacity deal with telco, Claro Brasil (through its Embratel division) to use the O3b mPOWER network to extend its mobile backhaul service serving more than 260,000 inhabitants of the eight cities in the isolated Amazon region. SES already serves other communities in the region with backhaul capacity delivered via its geostationary satellite. The O3b mPOWER network will provide 4 Gbps and will be able to support both 4G and 5G networks. In November 2022, SES announced further delays to

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