SES Swaps SES-12 and
SES-14 Launches
SES announced a
change of launch
vehicles and launch
slots for its SES-12
and SES-14
satellites. Under
the new agreements,
SES-12 will be
launched on a Falcon
9 vehicle from
SpaceX in Q1 2018
while SES-14 will be
launched on an
Ariane 5 rocket
early in Q1 2018.
The swap of launches
will enable SES to
improve service
quality and
continuity for its
customers. Both
SES-12 and SES-14
are using electric
propulsion for
orbit-raising and
will enter into
service some four to
six months after
launch.
SES-14,
manufactured by
Airbus Defense and
Space, will be
positioned at the
47.5 degrees West
orbital slot. The
C-band payload of
SES-14 will replace
NSS-806 and will
support SES’s cable
neighborhood in
Latin America. The
Ku-band payload
augments the Ku-band
capacity on NSS-806
with wide beams and
high throughput spot
beams covering the
Americas and the
North Atlantic
Region. The Ku-band
spot beams will
allow SES to support
the increasing
demand for
aeronautical and
maritime mobility
applications,
cellular backhaul,
broadband delivery,
and VSAT services
for enterprise and
government segments.
The Ku-band wide
beams are designed
to provide video and
data services in
Latin America, the
Caribbean, and
across the North
Atlantic. SES-14
also carries the
Global-Scale
Observations of the
Limb and Disk (GOLD)
as a hosted payload
for NASA.
SES-12, a very
large satellite also
manufactured by
Airbus Defense and
Space, will be
positioned at 95
degrees East. The
satellite will
expand SES’s
capabilities to
provide
direct-to-home (DTH)
broadcasting, VSAT,
Mobility and HTS
data connectivity
services in the
Middle East and the
Asia-Pacific region,
including rapidly
growing markets such
as India and
Indonesia. The
satellite will
replace NSS-6 at
this location and
will be co-located
with SES-8. As the
largest satellite
ever built for SES,
SES-12 is capable of
supporting
requirements in
multiple verticals
from Cyprus in the
West to Japan in the
East, and from
Russia in the North
to Australia in the
South.
