SES-6 ready to go
May 31, 2013
By Chris Forrester
International Launch Services (ILS) is making final preparations to launch SES-6 into orbit. The launch is scheduled for June 3rd. ILS uses the Proton+Breeze-M booster combination for the launch from the Baikonur, Kazakhstan cosmodrome.
SES-6 will replace NSS-806 at 40.5 degrees West, and serve North America, Latin America and the Caribbean islands. Other transponders will beam capacity over Europe and the Atlantic Ocean region. SES-6 carries both Ku-band and C-band transponders.
SES-6 is the first of a cluster of satellites being launched for SES over the next few months which will add more than 100 extra transponders to the SES fleet.
Additional to 4 geostationary satellites, SES is also expected to launch in June the first four MEO satellites as Phase 1 of the O3b constellation of data and broadband mini-satellites. It has now emerged that O3b, in which SES owns 47 per cent, has an order backlog of some $750 million.