On Sunday, November 12, at 4:08 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission to MEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This was the ninth flight of the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, and five Starlink missions.
The first stage was successfully landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 245th recovery of the first stage by the company.
SES also announced the successful launch of the two additional O3b mPOWER satellites for the company aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
With the fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites launched, the system is now completed with the six MEO satellites required in their slots to offer high-performance network services that will deliver high throughput, predictable low latency, unique flexibility and service availability.
Last month, SES announced it will add to the constellation two more satellites built by Boeing, bringing the total number of O3b mPOWER satellites to 13. The additional investment is expected to be covered within SES’s existing committed CapEx envelope. The first four O3b mPOWER satellites launched in the last year have arrived at their target orbital position and are undergoing in-orbit checks, including a series of system validation tests encompassing both space and ground components.
In 2023 alone, SES has rolled out and tested more than 160 O3b mPOWER terminals over the existing O3b constellation to serve mobility, telecom, government, and enterprise customers.
“With the fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites launched and going operational in the next few months, we are gearing up to deliver the high-performance connectivity services our customers need. By building resiliency into the network, we are confident our customers will be able to depend on us to deliver the reliable and secure connectivity required to run their operations.” — Ruy Pinto, CEO, SES.