SES Contracts Airbus Defence and Space
to Manufacture SES-12 Satellite for Launch in Q4
2017
SES S.A. and Airbus
Defence and Space announced today that SES has
selected Airbus Defence and Space to build a new
hybrid communications satellite, SES-12, to
serve the fast growing DTH, Data, Mobility and
Government markets in Asia
The new satellite will expand SES’s
capabilities to provide direct-to-home (DTH)
broadcasting, VSAT, Mobility and High Throughput
Satellite (HTS) data connectivity services in
the Asia-Pacific region, including rapidly
growing markets such as India and Indonesia.
The spacecraft will be positioned at the
well-established SES orbital slot of 95 degrees
East, providing incremental as well as
replacement capacity with excellent view angles
across the Asia-Pacific region. SES-12 will
replace SES’s existing NSS-6 satellite and will
be co-located with SES-8. Today, SES serves
close to 20 million DTH households in India and
Indochina from this orbital slot.
SES-12 will be built by Airbus Defence and
Space based on the highly reliable Eurostar
E3000 platform. The satellite is designed to
operate for 15 years, with a payload comprised
of 68 high-power physical Ku-band transponders
and 8 physical Ka-band transponders. The
spacecraft will be equipped with an electric
plasma propulsion system for orbit raising and
on-orbit manoeuvres.
The payload of the hybrid SES-12 satellite
consists of two distinct but complementary
missions: first, traditional wide beam coverage,
and second, a high-powered Ku-band multi spot
beam payload (HTS).
The traditional wide-beam mission consists of
54 (36 MHz equivalent) transponders that will
provide state-of-the-art replacement and growth
capacity for SES’s existing DTH, Government and
VSAT customers allowing for a seamless
transition from NSS-6 to SES-12. In addition,
the design provides incremental growth capacity
to support new DTH platforms and other services
targeting the Asia-Pacific region.
The second mission consists of 70 Ku-band
spot beams and 11 Ka-band spot beams delivering
over 14 GHz for VSAT, Enterprise, Mobility and
Government applications. This mission also
includes a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP)
which provides anti-jamming capabilities as well
as increased payload flexibility in order to
provide customized bandwidth solutions to SES
customers.
SES-12 is the 11th spacecraft that SES has
ordered from Airbus Defence and Space. Financial
details are not being disclosed. A launch
vehicle for SES-12 will be announced at a later
stage.
Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO of
SES, states: “We look forward to working again
with Airbus Defence and Space on this important
addition to our global fleet. SES-12 will
greatly expand our capacity over Asia and is
fully in line with our capital expenditure plan.
Through its unique hybrid DTH/HTS design, SES-12
will continue to support our growing DTH
platforms and provide a new, lower cost HTS
product, further enhancing our customer’s
options for growth.”