{"id":11433,"date":"2022-06-28T19:03:33","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T11:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-mission-this-week-to-kick-off-busy-launch-calendar-for-ses\/"},"modified":"2022-06-28T19:03:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T11:03:33","slug":"spacex-mission-this-week-to-kick-off-busy-launch-calendar-for-ses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-mission-this-week-to-kick-off-busy-launch-calendar-for-ses\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX mission this week to kick off busy launch calendar for SES"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The SES 22 communications satellite during encapsulation inside SpaceX\u2019s payload fairing. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new European-built television broadcasting satellite to cover the United States is set for liftoff Wednesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the first of 11 SES-owned telecom spacecraft scheduled to fly on six launches from Cape Canaveral by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The launches for SES, one of the largest traditional telecom satellite operators, will use five SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and one United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.<\/p>\n

Five of the satellites, including the SES 22 spacecraft set for launch Wednesday, are designed for C-band television broadcast services over the United States. SES also plans to launch the first six satellites for the company\u2019s O3b mPower broadband network, providing data connectivity and internet services around the world.<\/p>\n

The first six O3b mPower satellites will launch on three Falcon 9 rockets, heading for positions in a unique orbit at an altitude of about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers). Those three launches are currently on track to fly by the end of 2022, according to SES.<\/p>\n

The upcoming satellite deployment campaign comes after a relatively quiet period in launches for SES, with just one new SES satellite launched since 2019. But the schedules for two different segments of SES\u2019s business have aligned to create this year\u2019s rapid-fire launch cadence.<\/p>\n

The O3b mPower program, first announced in 2017, is nearing the finish line in development. And the SES 22 launch is the first mission to replenish SES\u2019s fleet of C-band television broadcast satellites to replace C-band capacity being transitioned to 5G cellular network services by the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cSES 22 is a C-band satellite, so it\u2019s part of our program of C-band clearing in the U.S.,\u201d said Christophe De Hauwer, SES\u2019s chief strategy and development officer. \u201cIt\u2019s a C-band only satellite. It will be launched to 135 degrees west, which is the location we are replenishing, from where we will provide mostly TV and radio services over the U.S., but also some data services over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

From its parking spot in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator at 135 degrees west longitude, SES 22 will begin a 15-year mission beaming cable TV programming for SES\u2019s corporate clients.<\/p>\n

The SES 22 satellite, weighing about 7,700 pounds (3.5 metric tons), is heading for a position in geostationary orbit after launch Wednesday from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space in France, is buttoned up inside the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff during a two-hour window opening at 5:04 p.m. EDT (2104 GMT).<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket will head east after departing Florida\u2019s Space Coast, powered by nine kerosene-fueled Merlin main engines generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust. The first stage, tail number B1073, will fly on its second mission and head for a vertical landing on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean more than 400 miles (about 670 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The upper stage\u2019s single Merlin engine will fire two times to inject the SES 22 spacecraft into an elliptical, or oval-shaped, transfer orbit ranging more than 20,000 miles above Earth. Deployment of the SES 22 satellite from the Falcon 9 upper stage is scheduled at T+plus 33 minutes, 26 seconds, according to a mission timeline provided by SpaceX.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The SES 22 communications satellite during encapsulation inside SpaceX\u2019s payload fairing. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SES 22 will unfurl its solar panels and antennas, and perform a series of orbit-raising burns with a liquid-fueled engine to circularize its orbit at geostationary altitude over the equator. After completing in-orbit verification testing, SES 22 is scheduled to enter commercial service in early August, according to De Hauwer.<\/p>\n

The Federal Communications Commission\u2019s finalized a program in 2020 to clear 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum for the roll-out of 5G mobile connectivity networks.<\/p>\n

The FCC auctioned U.S. C-band spectrum \u2014 previously used for satellite-based video broadcast services to millions of customers \u2014 to 5G operators.<\/p>\n

In compensation for losing the spectrum, Intelsat and SES \u2014 the two largest C-band satellite operators in the U.S. market \u2014 are set to receive $4.87 billion and $3.97 billion from 5G bidders, respectively, if they can accelerate the transition of C-band services to a smaller swath of spectrum by December 2023, two years before the FCC\u2019s mandated deadline.<\/p>\n

Intelsat and SES \u2014 along with operators with a smaller share of the U.S. C-band market \u2014 will also be reimbursed for their C-band relocation costs, including satellite manufacturing and launch expenses, by the winners of the FCC\u2019s C-band auction.<\/p>\n

As part of the agreement, the satellite operators were incentivized to buy new C-band broadcasting satellites from U.S. manufacturers to operate in the 4.0 to 4.2 GHz swath of the C-band spectrum. The lower portion of the band previously allocated to satellite operators \u2014 3.7 to 4.0 GHz \u2014 is being transitioned to 5G services.<\/p>\n

De Hauwer said SES has already cleared the lower 120 MHz of the C-band spectrum through reallocation of programming on existing satellites, but meeting the rest of the C-band clearing mandate requires the launch of new spacecraft. In 2020, SES ordered six new C-band satellites, including a spare, and Intelsat procured seven C-band satellites.<\/p>\n

SES says the new C-band satellites will enable the broadcast of digital TV services to nearly 120 million homes in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have more satellites in the sky so that we then spread the loading on a larger number of satellites as opposed to what we have now,\u201d De Hauwer said. \u201cWe will launch five C-band satellites. They\u2019re all going to be launched this year, or this is certainly the plan. With that, we\u2019ll be good. That\u2019s the capacity we need in the sky in order to do the repacking (of the C-band spectrum).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
A Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station before launch with the SES 22 satellite. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the launch of SES 22 this week, two more C-band satellites are assigned to fly to space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in the third quarter of this year, according to De Hauwer. Sources said that mission is currently set for launch in late August or early September.<\/p>\n

The SES 20 and 21 satellites flying on the Atlas 5 rocket were built by Boeing, and are fitted with all-electric propulsion systems. The electric thrusters are more efficient but less powerful than conventional liquid-fueled rocket engines, and would take months to reposition the SES 20 and 21 satellites from an elliptical transfer orbit into their final circular operating orbits in the geostationary belt.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5\u2019s Centaur upper stage has the ability to place the SES 20 and 21 satellites very close to their operating positions in geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis rocket is the right rocket for that specific mission,\u201d De Hauwer said. \u201cWe could not afford an orbit-raising of a number of months. It has to be able to do direct injection, so the two satellites will be almost immediately in geostationary orbit and that required the Atlas 5 from ULA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two more C-band satellites \u2014 SES 18 and 19 built by Northrop Grumman \u2014 will launch together on a single Falcon 9 rocket around the end of the year. Those satellites use chemical propulsion for faster orbit-raising, so they can launch into a standard elliptical transfer orbit.<\/p>\n

Launching all the new C-band satellites quickly was a critical part of the spectrum clearing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of our main criteria in selecting the different vendors was what will be the timeline for them to deliver the spacecraft,\u201d De Hauwer said. \u201cTiming is everything in this program. Once the satellites are launched, we then need to move the customers around when the satellites are being moved.<\/p>\n

Thales Alenia Space built the SES 22 satellite in 22 months, De Hauwer said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SES 22 communications satellite during encapsulation inside SpaceX\u2019s payload fairing. Credit: SpaceX A new European-built television broadcasting satellite to cover the United States is set for liftoff Wednesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the first of 11 SES-owned telecom spacecraft scheduled to fly on six launches from Cape Canaveral by the end of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}