SES CEO: “Multi-orbit is now key”
June 4, 2026
SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh has said that SES is pursuing what he calls a “multi-orbit architecture,” which combines satellites in different orbital positions to provide connectivity resilience. “For mission-critical applications, CEOs don’t have time to think about their networks. They just need them to work,” he stated in an interview with the WSJ’s ‘Deloitte Perspectives’,
SES is perhaps best known for its well-established role in geostationary satellites. More recently it has added mid-Earth orbits (mPOWER and the recently announced meoSphere fleet). In acquiring Intelsat the combined company also has commercial relationships with Eutelsat’s OneWeb and SpaceC’s Starlink which operate their satellites at much lower orbits.
Al-Saleh told the WSJ that CEOs should think about space-based infrastructure the way they think about cybersecurity or supply chain resilience: as a strategic imperative requiring executive attention, not just technical implementation.
“When people talk about the space economy, they’re really talking about satellites as the primary interface with space. And the reality is satellites are already part of your daily operations. Navigation systems, weather data, aviation positioning, media broadcasting, remote communication, connected vehicles, and airplanes—all of these depend on satellite infrastructure,” said Al-Saleh,
Al-Saleh explained that while satellite customers tend not to care about orbital mechanics but want solutions. “There’s no such thing as one orbit takes it all. That’s not the case. That’s why we’re expanding and our competitors are expanding.”
“We are pursuing a multi-orbit strategy because of the mission flexibility it provides. We feel that MEO gives us economic advantages because of fewer satellites, fewer launches, greater resilience, and more use cases. And GEO remains optimal for specific high-value applications like live global media distribution and to secure government broadband with redundancy,” he added.
Asked what the biggest challenge for SES was, he responded saying: “For us, it’s about navigating innovation cycles that have been dramatically compressed. Not long ago, our satellite innovation cycles lasted five to seven years. Today it’s annual. For SES, that means dramatically reducing cost and accelerating innovation to stay competitive. Today we are taking control of our supply chain and working with new space companies that have a completely different innovation mindset. It’s easy to talk about, but making this change fast is a challenge.”
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