Following their launch last month from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre,
Boeing-built O3b mPower satellites are now sending and receiving signals in space. The satellites, which separated from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket about 2hr after launch, have joined the first six O3b mPower to further enhance the ability of SES (a satellite communications service provider) to deliver high-speed, reliable connectivity to global users.
Michelle Parker, Boeing Space Mission Systems’ vice president, said: “These satellites are the most advanced commercial communications satellites we have built to-date, and it is exciting to work with SES to get these satellites into service.”
The O3b mPower system, SES’s second-generation ‘medium Earth orbit’ (MEO) constellation, is designed to transform industries with terabit-level capacity, roundtrip latency of less than 150ms, and ‘unmatched service availability.’
Adel Al-Saleh, SES’s CEO, said: “O3b mPower is our most powerful, technically advanced, flexible satellite constellation in space. As we increase the number of satellites, we also exponentially increase the capacity and efficiency of our network.
“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. We have also learned a lot and have put all those insights to work as we progress in our innovation journey to scale up our services and meet even the most advanced requirements of our customers.”
Boeing will oversee the satellites through in-orbit testing before a handover to SES in around three months.