TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched the first pair of O3b mPower satellites with fixes to address power issues that have hampered the initial six in SES’s next-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) broadband network.
Luxembourg-based SES said it had made contact with the satellites after their 5:26 pm Eastern launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
The seventh and eighth O3b mPower satellites are expected to spend around 100 days using onboard propulsion to reach their operational orbits, where health checks will confirm readiness for commercial use.
Upgrading mPower
SES announced that electrical issues were sporadically tripping off power modules on in-orbit O3b mPower satellites in August 2023, after SpaceX launched the first four spacecraft in the Boeing-built constellation.
Although the issue significantly reduces operational life and broadband capacity, the operator proceeded with launching the fifth and sixth O3b mPower satellites without hardware changes so commercial services could start in April.
To achieve original performance expectations for a constellation designed to scale to multiple gigabits per second of throughput, Boeing agreed to provide two more O3b mPower satellites beyond an initial 11-satellite contract.
“As we increase the number of satellites in our constellation, we also exponentially increase the capacity and efficiency of our network,” SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said in a Dec. 17 statement.
“Ever since the start of service of O3b mPOWER earlier this year, we have seen how it has become an integral part of the connectivity experience of our customers.”
O3b mPower customers range from businesses such as cruise liners and telcos to governments, including Luxembourg and the United States.
SpaceX is slated to deploy the remaining five O3b mPower satellites over the next 18 months.
SES, which also operates a fleet of geostationary spacecraft for broadband and TV broadcast services, recently signed a contract to co-lead Europe’s $11 billion IRIS² sovereign broadband constellation ambitions, heading the multi-orbit network’s MEO element.
