SES Orders Three New Satellites for 2017

SES ordered several new satellites this week, it said in a news release Tuesday. The satellite operator ordered SES-16/GovSat through LuxGovSat, a joint venture by SES and the Luxembourg government, it said. The satellite, which will be made by manufacturer Orbital ATK, will use military Ka- and X-bands, it said. SES ordered SES-15, which will be built by Boeing, for more capacity in North America, it said. The satellite will have Ku-band wide beams and Ka- and Ku-band high throughput satellite capabilities, it said. SES ordered SES-14 for growing video demands in the Americas and North Atlantic region, it said. The satellite, which will be built by Airbus Space and Defence, will replace SES’s NSS-806, it said. SES-14 will have C- and Ku-band wide beam coverage and Ka- and Ku-band HTS coverage, it said. SES-14 and -15 will use electric propulsion systems for orbit raising and in-orbit maneuvers and to reduce their weight and allow larger payloads, it said. SES-15 and -16 will be launched in Q2 2017; SES-14 will be launched Q4 2017, it said.