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WASHINGTON – European launch provider Arianespace completed SES's first-generation O3b constellation on 4 April with Soyuz launching four satellites.
The rocket took off at 13:04. East of the European Space Center in French Guiana near Kourou, French Guiana.
The 700-kilogram satellites, designed for broadband connectivity services, are separated from the Russian rocket, two at a time, the first taking two hours and one minute after takeoff and the second 22 minutes later.
SES now has 20 O3b satellites in medium Earth orbit. The French-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space built Ka-band satellites, each carrying 20 gigabits per second of throughput.
SES, based in Luxembourg, operates O3b satellites 8,000 kilometers from Earth, about a quarter of the distance in geostationary orbit where most telecommunication satellites are located. The proximity of O3b satellites means less latency for communication services.
SES spokesperson Suzanne Ong said the four new satellites increase the flow of the constellation O3b by 26%. The coverage area of the O3b constellation remains largely the same, she said, covering 50 degrees north and south of the equator.
Arianespace has launched the entire O3b constellation since 2013 using Soyuz rockets carrying four satellites at a time.
Since then, many companies have started to place their broadband satellites in Earth orbit even closer to Earth. SpaceX and Telesat have a prototype spacecraft and OneWeb has six operational satellites, all in low Earth orbit.
John-Paul Hemingway, President and CEO of SES Networks, confirmed SES's decision to focus on the average Earth orbit. several stops for long distance calls.
"If you want to go from Africa to London, you have to go through many jumps to get there. The delay will be the same. [as a higher orbit], "he said." We really think this average Earth orbit is the right place. "
Not all operators agree with this assessment. LeoSat, which is preparing a constellation of 108 low-Earth-orbit satellites equipped with inter-satellite links, indicates that it will be faster than fiber for some long-range communications.
Hemingway said that SES could route latency-sensitive traffic, such as video conferencing, via O3b satellites, and route other traffic such as web browsing on its more than 50 geostationary satellites.
Hemingway said that the influx of investments in the constellations of small satellites, as well as in other satellite systems, is evidence that satellite communications are becoming a mainstream rather. as a solution of last resort.
"It has to be used with fiber optics, with the microwave, and the satellite will be running," he said. "All this is proof for me that it's happening."
SES built with Boeing seven second-generation O3b satellites, designed to collectively provide a capacity of 10 terabits per second. SES has not selected any launch provider, but plans to bring the second generation, called O3b mPower, into orbit by 2021.
For Arianespace, the April 4 launch was its fourth Soyuz mission in less than five months – a rate that puts into practice its OneWeb launch campaign, which calls for Soyuz launches every 21 days for 20 missions starting later this year. Most of these launches are planned from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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