SES-17 has completed its performance tests at the Thales Alenia Space facility in Cannes, France and is being prepared for shipment to Arianespace’s Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on 22 September 2021. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched by Arianespace, using an Ariane 5 vehicle on 22 October 2021, SES has announced.
SES-17 is a very high-throughput satellite in geosynchronous orbit, built to serve North America, South America, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean with Ka-band coverage. It will address demands for high-speed and flexible data connectivity across aviation, maritime, enterprise and government segments, advancing the region’s digitalisation objectives and helping to bridge the digital divide. This first fully Ka-band geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite of the SES fleet will have a total processing capacity of 200GHz and a fully digital payload connected to approximately 200 beams, capable of maintaining a throughput of 2Gb / s per connection.
The totally digital payload is powered by an advanced digital transparent processor (DTP), enabling far greater flexibility and efficiency than previously available.
For commercial aviation, SES will be partnering with its anchor customer, Thales Avionics.