@World Satellite Business Week | SES unveils 10-terabit 'mPower' satellite constellation

View this email in your browser A daily newsletter published by SpaceNews during Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris, Sept. 11-15 September 11, 2017 SPACENEWS' DAILY COVERAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY Eumetsat launching two, possibly three Metop-SG satellites with Arianespace Caleb Henry — Fleet operator SES placed a seven-satellite order with Boeing Satellite Systems International to build a second generation of O3b satellites that will have more than triple the capacity of ViaSat's future ViaSat-3 constellation.  The new constellation, called O3b mPower, consists of an initial seven high-throughput satellites in medium-Earth orbit, delivering capacity through 30,000 spot beams for broadband internet services.  O3b mPower is expected to launch in 2021, building substantially on top of the 20 Thales-built first-generation O3b satellites for which the remaining eight are scheduled to launch four at a time in 2018 and 2019 on Arianespace Soyuz rockets. SEE FULL STORY Eumetsat launching two, possibly three Metop-SG satellites with Arianespace Caleb Henry — Europe's 30-nation meteorological organization Eumetsat said Sept. 11 that it will launch two-second generation satellites on Arianespace Soyuz launches and will consider a third mission with either Soyuz or the future Ariane 6. Arianespace is contracted to launch Metop-SG A1 and Metop-SG B1, two replacement polar satellites, between 2021 and 2023. The second-generation system will ultimately consist of six satellites designed and built in pairs of two for at least 21 years of continuous Earth observation. In an Arianespace press conference here, CEO Stephane Israel said the contract came to the European launch provider competitively, despite being a from European government customer. SEE FULL STORY Q&A | Thales' Jeff Goodman on making the jump from inflight entertainment to connectivity Caleb Henry — Since last year, Thales Inflyt Experience has secured capacity on four Ka-band satellites — Hughes' EchoStar-17 and EchoStar-19 satellites and SES's AMC-15 and AMC-16 satellites — for FlytLive, the company's Americas-focused aeronautical-connectivity solution. The company also signed up to be SES's anchor customer for SES-17, a 200-spot beam Ka-band satellite that SES describes as a "Very High-Throughput Satellite," slated for launch in 2020. Thales Alenia Space is building the satellite.  Jeff Goodman, director of connectivity product line management for Thales InFlyt Experience, said the company already has a global install base of 2,400 inflight entertainment, or IFE, systems, forming a sizeable base of easy prospects for FlytLive connectivity when the service launches later this year.  "Do we have upgrade paths with those customers? Absolutely. There is potential for upgrades to connectivity wherever we have IFE customers," he said.  Goodman spoke to SpaceNews about Thales' ambitions in the IFEC space. SEE FULL INTERVIEW Europe's GOVSATCOM demonstrator contract awarded to Airbus Tereza Pultarova — Airbus has been tapped by the European Space Agency to build a demonstrator system that would enable dynamic sharing of government satellite capabilities between European Union member states for the purposes of the future European Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) secure communications program. Airbus said the ground segment demonstrator would be based on the Newtec Dialog technology developed by Belgian company Newtec and will be installed at the Airbus site in Toulouse, Frence. The two-year contract also includes further developments to improve the Newtec technology. According to Airbus, the innovation will enable mobile users to switch transparently from one satellite beam to another without jeopardizing the confidentiality of their operations. SEE FULL STORY SSL signs  second solar cell supplier Caleb Henry— Satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral added European solar cell company Azur Space to its supplier base, signing a three-year supply contract last week. Azur Space, which began selling multi-junction solar cells in the U.S. two years ago, is now SSL's second supplier for solar cells, joining anchor supplier SolAero, a dominant player in the U.S. spacecraft solar power market, SSL spokesperson Omar Mahmoud told SpaceNews Friday (Sept. 8). This is Azur Space's first contract with SSL. SSL says it plans to integrate the populated panels into solar array wings itself. SEE FULL STORY ON THE HORIZON September 11-13 CTO ICT Forum 2017 | Maputo, Mozambique September 11-15 World Satellite Business Week | Paris September 14-18 IBC 2017 | Amsterdam September 19-20 Myanmar Connect 2017 | Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, 19-22 September VSAT Global 2017 | London   Follow SpaceNews Advertise with Us SN FIRST UP Satcom is sent out every Wednesday by SpaceNews Staff Writer Caleb Henry and SpaceNews Editor-in-Chief Brian Berger. Copyright © 2017 SPACENEWS, All rights reserved.