O3b mPOWER

The O3b mPOWER satellites are based on Boeing’s multi-orbit BSS-702X satellite bus with an all-electric propulsion system and a payload that can be reprogrammed from the ground to reallocate resources ‘on the fly’.[5][4]

The electronically steered phased array antennas can provide up to 5000 spot beams per satellite each shaped and pointed as required to specifically distribute power and bandwidth to individual user's terminals and, using the full Ka-band spectrum, enable uncontended speeds from 50 Mbit/s up to 10 Gbit/s.[2][6]

With frequency reuse, each O3b mPOWER satellite can deliver hundreds of gigabits in capacity, with multi-terabit capabilities across the full constellation.[1] SES' Adaptive Resource Control (ARC) software and digital payload processing systems synchronise space and ground system resources to electronically control routing, power levels, throughput, and frequency allocation dynamically, in real time.[2][7][8]

From MEO, the O3b mPOWER satellites can deliver high-bandwidth connectivity between latitudes 50°N and 50°S (covering 96% of the global population) to mobile and/or remote terminals of 0.3 m to 5.5 m, and is expected to find application in the following markets:[2][9]

• Mobility: cruise, commercial shipping, aero
• Telecom: telco, mobile network operators, cloud providers
• Government: military, government agencies, non-governmental organisations
• Enterprise: oil & gas, mining

Proposed additional satellites operating in a second medium earth orbit at an inclination of 70° would give near-complete global coverage.[4]

In September 2017, SES announced Boeing would build seven “super-powered” medium earth orbit satellites for launch in 2021 to provide flexible and scalable, low-latency satellite-based networks with terabits of throughput, hugely expanding the capacity of the existing constellation of 12 (now 20) first-generation O3b satellites.[10][11]

In March 2018, SES announced partnerships with Alcan Systems, Isotropic Systems and Viasat to develop compact, high-throughput user terminals for the O3b mPOWER system.[12]

In September 2019, SpaceX was contracted to launch the first seven O3b mPOWER satellites using Falcon 9 rockets with two launches of four and three satellites planned for 2021.[13]

In February 2020 Princess Cruises announced a partnership with SES for early access to the O3b mPOWER system, using a hybrid network of both MEO and geostationary satellites to provide connectivity to its fleet at sea.[14]

Also in February 2020, Orange, a user of the first generation O3b system in Africa and the Middle East since 2017, announced it would be the first telco to adopt the O3b mPOWER system, to extend its consumer and business broadband services in Africa, providing connectivity to remote locations, starting in the Central African Republic.[15]

In August 2020, the order for an additional four O3b mPOWER satellites, also from Boeing, was announced. These satellites will be more powerful than the original seven, increasing the total throughput of the entire O3b mPOWER constellation by 90%. The expected launch pattern for the whole O3b mPOWER constellation was also changed, with SpaceX contracted to provide two further launches on Falcon 9 rockets, each rocket carrying a maximum of three satellites, and the first three satellites expected to launch late in 2021, six more on two launches in 2022, and the final two in 2024.[3][16]

In September 2020, SES and Microsoft announced that SES was the medium Earth orbit connectivity partner for the Microsoft Azure Orbital ground station service that enables network operators to control their satellite operations and capacity from within the Azure cloud computing service. Under their agreement, SES and Microsoft will jointly invest in Azure Orbital ground stations for the MEO and Earth Observation segments, initially in the US, which will be installed and managed by SES. Also, satellite telemetry, tracking and control systems and data ground stations for the O3b mPOWER satellites will be located with Microsoft’s Azure edge sites to provide O3b mPOWER customers with ‘one-hop’ access to Azure cloud services.[17][18]

In November 2020, SES announced that Gilat and ST Engineering iDirect are developing the modem platforms and ground infrastructure for the O3b mPOWER communications system.[19]

In December 2020, SES agreed with Australian telco, Pivotel Group Pty to build a new ground station at Pivotel's teleport in Dubbo, New South Wales to use the O3b mPOWER system to provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.[20]

• O3b MEO
• SES S.A.
• O3b Networks
• Boeing 702 satellite bus
• SpaceX