O3B

O3b mPOWER get first cloud customer, on track for launch even as COVID-19 issues loom
Microsoft is pivoting from being a partner to also a customer of SES’ next-generation O3b mPOWER broadband constellation, which SES said remains on schedule despite an ongoing threat of supply chain disruption from COVID-19.

SES orders four more O3b mPower satellites from Boeing
Boeing will build four additional O3b mPower satellites for SES under an order announced Aug. 7 to expand the constellation to 11 satellites in medium Earth orbit.

SES details LEO constellation and expanded MEO constellation to FCC
SES proposed a low Earth orbit constellation to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that, if built, would make the company an operator of satellites in low, medium and geostationary orbits.

SES mulls external investments for O3b, Networks business
Satellite operator SES may separate its growing Networks business, which includes O3b, from its slowing video business to spur outside investment.

SES video revenue continues to slide, cloud services now company-wide strategy
Fleet operator SES is adding cloud services to its data and broadcast businesses while acknowledging that broadcast revenue has been shrinking faster than data is growing.

SpaceX to launch SES’s O3b mPower constellation on two Falcon 9 rockets
SpaceX received a contract to launch the first seven O3b mPower satellites using Falcon 9 rockets, the companies announced Sept. 9.

Soyuz launch completes first-generation O3b constellation
European launch provider Arianespace completed SES’s first-generation O3b constellation April 4 with the Soyuz launch of four satellites.

Arianespace assessing impact of crewed Soyuz failure on satellite-launching variant
Arianespace said Oct. 11 it’s too soon to say whether the Soyuz-ST rockets it uses to launch satellites from South America will be grounded following the failure of a Russian Soyuz-FG rocket carrying crew to the International Space Station.

SES’s future GEO satellites will be more like O3b, CEO says
Fresh off the success of a recent contract win to connect IBM Cloud customers with O3b satellites, SES’s chief executive said many of the operator’s future geostationary satellites will have attributes of O3b to appeal to more cloud networks.

SES wants fleet of identical, interchangeable satellites
Instead of buying individual satellites tailored for a specific job at a precise orbital location, fleet operator SES wants homogenous satellites with digitally processed payloads it can reconfigure in orbit to perform any job.

MEO startup Methera plans “high density” HTS constellation
In medium Earth orbit, the only system providing satellite broadband today is SES Networks’ constellation of 16 O3b satellites. A British startup with its own 16-satellite constellation idea wants to change that.

SES lowers video forecast, gives glowing review of O3b mPower progress
Satellite fleet operator SES of Luxembourg lowered its revenue forecast for its television broadcast market July 27 while forecasting stable growth of data services.

SES, with FCC’s blessing, says O3b constellation can reach global coverage
SES says its constellation of medium Earth orbit O3b satellites now has the ability to expand from an equatorial system to a global system thanks to new approvals from U.S. telecom regulators.

O3b MEO constellation grows to 16 with latest Soyuz launch
A Soyuz rocket from Arianespace successfully delivered four telecommunications satellites into medium Earth orbit for fleet operator SES.

O3b’s Steve Collar to lead SES, Karim Michel Sabbagh stepping down
Satellite fleet operator SES on Feb. 12 announced that CEO Karim Michel Sabbagh will be leaving the company April 5, exactly four years after assuming the position.

Google using O3b satellites to connect Project Loon over Puerto Rico
Google’s experimental high-altitude balloon project is using connectivity from O3b satellites to provide emergency communications in hurricane-ravished Puerto Rico.

Arianespace wins contracts for O3b and SES-17 satellites
Satellite operator SES has selected Arianespace to launch a fifth set of O3b satellites as well as a large geostationary orbit communications satellite, the companies announced Sept. 12.

SES building a 10-terabit O3b ‘mPower’ constellation
Fleet operator SES placed a seven-satellite order with Boeing Satellite Systems International to build a second generation of O3b satellites that will have more than triple the capacity of ViaSat’s future ViaSat-3 constellation.

SES Government Solutions gets DoD task order for additional O3b beam
The additional connectivity will be provided via SES’s medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) O3b fleet as part of a high-throughput, low-latency satellite communications system SES GS is providing to the Pentagon, the company said.

SES taps O3b’s Steve Collar to lead all non-television business
Global satellite fleet operator SES has elevated the role of O3b Networks Chief Executive Steve Collar to one that oversees all of the company’s non-video broadcast business.