SES and Luxembourg plan joint satellite
January 13, 2015
By Chris Forrester
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES is planning a joint satellite with the Luxembourg government. The craft, which should launch in late 2017, will be for governmental use.
The satellite will be owned by a joint-venture company into which each party will place €50 million, and at the same time will receive a €125 million bank loan to finance the satellite’s build and launch.
“The spacecraft would be positioned in the European arc, covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific,” says a statement. “The capacity of the new satellite would satisfy Luxembourg’s requirements for satellite communications in military frequencies. Capacity would also be made available to governmental and institutional customers for defence and governmental applications. The multi-mission satellite will use dedicated military frequencies (known as X-band and military Ka-band), providing high-powered and fully steerable spot beams to support multiple operations.”
“This new, ambitious public-private partnership demonstrates the importance of Luxembourg in the international space sector and the close and successful ties between SES and Luxembourg. SES fully acknowledges the importance of the Luxembourg Government’s participation in this future enterprise,” said Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO of SES. “As a commercial satellite operator, SES is ideally positioned to deliver its know-how to this new venture, serving a large range of future governmental and institutional customers, creating significant entrepreneurial value and return for these customers and for the Grand-Duchy.”