SES Government Solutions (SES GS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, in partnership with Planet Labs PBC (Planet), has been awarded a Funded Space Act Agreement from NASA’s Communications Services Project (CSP) to support the development and demonstration of near-Earth communication services in support of the agency’s future mission needs.
SES GS will partner with Planet to develop a real-time, always-on, low-latency connectivity solution enabled by SES’s GEO and MEO constellations, including O3b mPOWER, to further NASA missions. Planet brings more than a decade of experience in designing and manufacturing cutting-edge low-cost EO satellites and radio communication systems.
SES GS has been awarded nearly $29 million through NASA’s Funded Space Act Agreement to demonstrate commercial radio frequency GEO C-band and MEO Ka-band relay networks for SATCOM services to spacecraft in LEO. These services include routine missions, contingency operations, launch and ascent, and early operations phase communications.
The solution proposed by SES GS will deliver robust, reliable and cost-effective mission-oriented operations, enabling high-rate and high-capacity two-way communications. Under the agreement, the company will complete technology development and in-space demonstrations by 2025, with NASA intending to seek multiple long-term contracts to acquire services for near-Earth operations by 2030. The adoption of agile and innovative SATCOM service will support NASA in phasing out its proprietary systems, as well as other NASA-operated systems.
“We are excited to showcase our second-generation satellite constellation — O3b mPOWER — that will enable high data rates coupled with low-latency data relay communications to and from near-Earth orbit NASA assets,” said President and CEO of SES Government Solutions, Brigadier General Pete Hoene, USAF (retired). “Combining the multi-orbit capabilities of SES, the global leader in delivering content and connectivity solutions via satellite, with that of Planet Labs, one of the world’s leading commercial imaging companies, will create the world’s first high-throughput commercial space relay service, enabling timely and data-driven decisions.”