SES: “A LEO system could be considered”
October 23, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES, already the only operator with both Geostationary and Mid-Earth orbiting (MEO) fleets, says it could consider building a low Earth orbiting (LEO) constellation of satellites if the move made commercial sense and the technology it is developing is validated.
The comments came from Mohammed Marashi (SVP/Future Business & Innovation) who delivered a fascinating Keynote at the Silicon Valley Space Week event in Mountain View, California, on October 21st.
SES already carries some 6,400 TV channels and has a transmission reach of some 363 million homes in 130 countries. But Marashi explained that SES is changing. He said that SES was now actively investing in start-ups and also collaborating with its existing customers on new developments and was co-developing new products and working with consortia on these developments.
He described these developments as being “radical” for SES, and even “disruptive” and the intention was to accelerate how products and services were evolving. The old view at SES, even in terms of the O3b fleet, came from its experience with geostationary satellites. “In reality we needed to be thinking more of the O3b fleet as LEO craft.”
Currently, SES uses SpaceX’s Starlink LEO and frequently collaborates with Starlink on projects such as Cruise ship connectivity and airline In-Flight communications.
Marashi delivered a case-study of how SES worked with international video news agency AFP and how the SES 360 concept was used for AFP and how 360’s simplified workflow, and allowed AFP to manage, track and deliver all of AFP’s content in a single interface, from anywhere in the world and speeded up the distribution of AFP’s video news stories.
“Key,” he said, “was working closely with our customers, and asking how we could help them improve their service, whether using geostationary, O3b/mPOWER and its equatorial RF Relay Service for data.”
“We are changing our approach, in design, procurement and accelerating our approach to next-generation needs and constellations. Our aim is to reduce the ‘cost/bit’ and how we can develop these technologies for multi-orbit or multi-band usage. We recognise our intention is not going to be straightforward and would need collaboration,” he said.
He showcased the SES ‘EAGLE-1’ prototype LEO satellite, which came with help from the European Space Agency and some 20 European nations. EAGLE-1, which he described as a radical solution, and would launch in 2026. EAGLE-1 is a very high-tech animal and will carry a Quantum Key Distribution QKD payload. The EAGLE-1 project is co-funded by ESA, the European Union (EU), the space agencies of Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and the Czech Republic, as well as the industry. It is expected to have a three year validation period once launched.
EAGLE-1 is designed to be capable of supplying secure transmission of encryption keys across geographically dispersed areas and connecting EU’s national quantum communications infrastructures for truly sovereign networks. Germany-based TESAT, Europe’s leading laser communication technology company (and which operates independently from its Airbus owners) is developing the QKD payload.
“Innovation is in SES’s DNA. We are happy to discuss further collaboration – under NDA terms – and we are seeking to accelerate our innovation and work together with the industry,” he added.
However, funding of any sort of LEO fleet is expensive and SES is already committed to acquiring arch-rival Intelsat, a geostationary operator, in a deal which will close about a year from now. Building its own LEO fleet, incorporating QKD technology, might happen, but only if it made very clear financial sense, Marashi stressed.
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