Don’t believe me, just look at where we are now from where we were in elementary school. In my case, that means going back to the 80s and 90s, when we saw the proliferation of the home computer running simple, command-based operating systems and running applications off of 5.25-inch floppy disks. I remember specifically when CD-ROMs were introduced and how revolutionary they were because of their ability to introduce “multimedia” to the personal computing experience.

Since that time, we’ve seen the emergence of computer networking, and the Internet, and the cloud, and social media, and solid state storage and mobile devices. Each one of these has completely reshaped our lives and how we live them.

Well, we’re starting to see something similar in space.

Although the pace of innovation may not seem as fast for satellite technology as it is for the technologies we’re using right here on Earth, some amazing developments are in the works – many of which are being driven by terrestrial technology trends and changes.

The increasingly data-heavy applications that we rely on everyday are driving a need for big, low latency beams capable of delivering the bandwidth necessary for them to run. This has sparked some amazing innovation in space, and commercial satellite customers on Earth are starting to take notice.

Let’s take a look at some of the headlines we’ve seen in the space and satellite news in early June, and we’ll undoubtedly see stories of exciting and innovative new advanced making their way into space – and subsequently getting embraced here on Earth:

US DOD Partners with SES to Secure O3b MEO Services
The military is increasingly reliant on IT solutions and advanced technologies in theater. Soldiers and warfighters are also increasingly expecting access to the same technologies and IT tools that they use at home, even if they’re deployed to the tip of the spear. But, as we discussed, these solutions – especially hosted applications and data in the cloud – require a large amount of bandwidth. Also, real time applications can be drastically impeded by large amounts of latency.

The answer could lie in a new generation of satellites from SES that incorporates today’s advanced high throughput satellite technologies, and are strategically positioned closer to Earth. The SES O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellation is located half of the distance away from the Earth as traditional GEO satellites, enabling them to deliver powerful beams from closer by – greatly reducing latency. This makes the O3b constellation an ideal solution for delivering the applications, IT services and solutions the military needs at the speeds they require.

The military appears to agree. As this Satellite Today article states, the DoD has signed a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) that will make the O3b satellite constellations available to the entire military as a service. This means that any military organization or branch in need of high speed, low-latency connectivity now has a contract vehicle in place in which to get access to it as a managed service.

The timing of this announcement was perfect for the DoD, since the MEO constellation that they’re making available across the military also received some very good news this week.

SES, with FCC’s blessing, says O3b constellation can reach global coverage
Just this past week, the Federal Communications Commission approved the expansion of the O3b constellation from equatorial constellation to global constellation. This effectively gives SES the ability to build out its MEO satellite constellation so that it can cover more than 80 percent of the globe.

This is exciting news for customers or anyone else that wants access to high speed, low-latency connectivity practically anywhere on the globe. The expansion of the O3b satellite constellation will increase coverage area, ensuring fiber-like connectivity to anywhere military and government resources are deployed.

But increasingly powerful, high-bandwidth and lower-latency satellites aren’t the only exciting technologies that are making their way into space.

Orbital ATK, SSL and others are gearing up to make house calls to ailing satellites
Launching a satellite can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. If you spent a small fraction of that amount on something for your home – like an appliance – you’d want the ability to cost efficiently repair it should it break. That’s not a luxury that’s been afforded to satellite operators. At least – not yet.

This excellent Space News article takes a look at in-orbit refueling and repair programs being developed and implemented by companies like SSL and Orbital ATK. These programs will give satellite operators the ability to refuel satellites that are rapidly approaching their original end-of-life and buy them a few additional years of operation – allowing operators to get the most out of their investment.

In the future, they’ll also be looking to repair satellites with robots – a technology that could open the door for many cool advancements in the long run.

For additional information on HTS and MEO satellites, click HERE to download the white paper, “The Big Beam Boom.”

The post Big beams and repairs in space – a look at exciting space stories making the news appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

During the first part of our conversation with Dr. Roesler, we talked about the current state of on-orbit servicing, differentiated Gen One from Gen Two servicing, and spoke about what future generations of this technology will enable and why on-orbit servicing is in such high demand.

In the second part of our discussion, Dr. Roesler provided some additional details about the exciting and innovative capabilities that robotics can enable in space in the future, and how Gen One and Gen Two servicing may be just opening the door for some truly revolutionary services in space.

Here is what Gordon had to say:

Government Satellite Report (GSR): We’ve covered Gen One and Gen Two on-orbit servicing, but what does the future after those two generations look like?

Dr. Roesler: With the introduction of Gen Two capabilities, we’ll have access to dexterous robotics that can make something like changing out a reflector to address a new service area something that’s relatively easy to do. For example, the Dragonfly Project, a NASA-funded program, is intending to take reflectors and put them in place with a robotic arm on a commercial communication satellite.

So if you can put that in place with a robotic arm, you can also take it off again and put a different reflector on. That will give operators the ability to change the property of the satellite payload on-orbit. To better enable that, there are some easy things we could start doing to our new satellites that would allow us to take more advantage of robotic capabilities.

For example, NASA Goddard has developed a refueling quick disconnect. Today there are still many steps required to refuel a satellite, but this quick disconnect greatly cuts down that number of steps. That quick disconnect would have to be integrated into the satellite design before launch, but it’s not a painful installation and it could greatly facilitate the ability to transfer fuel.

Another new addition we should be considering adding to satellites during design and construction is the equivalent of a USB port on your laptop. It’s something DARPA has developed for the servicer, but it can also be installed on satellites before launch.  With a USB port, you can plug in to a thumb drive or hard drive and it recognizes what the component is and it provides new services. DARPA’s port will be used to hold the robotic tools on the servicer, but it also has power and data feeds just like a USB port. So you could bring up a new payload, plug it in, and take advantage of the power and communications of the host satellite.

That’s when you’re starting to get into Generation Three, which we haven’t discussed yet – modular satellites.

There is a tremendous amount of research and development that still needs to be done to create a truly modular satellite. But that research and development is extremely valuable because, if you have a modular satellite, you can take advantage of lower cost, more prolific launch systems that are being developed. Modular satellites would be assembled on orbit from components sent up on low-cost launches, or modules could be replaced in the future on a satellite that you already built and launched. That said, there would be a lot of testing that would need to be done on the ground and a lot of progress needs to be made.

The other revolutionary Gen Three capability is the assembly of large structures, such as antennas and telescopes, in orbit. NASA is working on in-orbit assembly for future astrophysics missions, on the premise that something large, like a 20-meter telescope, must be assembled in-orbit, due to the massive size of the hardware. In those instances, there is no way you could fold it into a single launch fairing – so [the hardware] would need to be assembled robotically in space.

In the same way, being able to assemble the largest reflector or antenna possible would give communication service providers significantly more flexibility.

GSR: Looking back at Gen Two capabilities and the addition of payloads to existing satellites, what types of payloads and capabilities could be added to a satellite in space with this technology? Why is this an attractive option for the military? For commercial operators?

Dr. Roesler: There would be many different possibilities. For example, one simple thing operators could do is to add cameras that provide the satellite the ability to see around it. In geosynchronous orbit, these satellites are 22,000 miles away and it’s difficult to see small objects. So if these cameras could see small objects close to the satellite, it would give operators the ability to react appropriately.

One other capability that could be added is space weather sensors. I mentioned earlier the consequences of not knowing what caused an outage. If you built a space weather sensor and attached it on-orbit, you’d have an indication of whether or not an outage was related to a solar event. There are also other ways of detecting nearby satellites that could be integrated into a small payload and attached.

The advantage of an attachable payload is that you don’t have to integrate it with a propulsion system and attitude control system. The cost is lower, it’s available for use faster, and the opportunities to get it on-orbit are more numerous.

For example, DARPA has developed a capability called PODS – which stands for Payload Orbiting Delivery Systems – that could carry a wide variety of separable mass elements to orbit – including attachable payloads – aboard commercial communications satellites. With 15 commercial launches to GEO a year, we can take advantage of such methods to get small payloads up there without having to buy entire launch vehicles.

In terms of commercial offerings for attachable payloads, many have told me that they are excited about the opportunity to host some of these payloads. It will produce a revenue stream for them for sure, but it also allows them to start thinking about other approaches for fleet flexibility. It’s also an entrepreneurial opportunity. There are people out there who want sensors for applications like agricultural use or environmental data collection, and some of these things can be done from GEO.

GSR: We often hear that concerns over timing – not having payloads built in time for launch – are a main reason why some agencies shy away from hosting payloads on commercial spacecraft. Could you see a reality where we put military or government payloads on commercial spacecraft on-orbit? Could this help alleviate some of those concerns and drive up adoption of hosted payloads?

Dr. Roesler: You really hit the nail on the head. Sometimes, secondary payloads, hosted payloads – or even the payloads for the primary mission – aren’t ready in time. The ability to add them after launch should be extremely freeing for the whole space enterprise and adds a tremendous amount of flexibility.

GSR: During the panel discussion, the panelists touched on the possibility of constructing satellites in space. Why would it be attractive to literally build or construct a satellite in space? What would that enable us to do that we can’t do with our current system of building satellites on Earth and launching them already constructed?

Dr. Roesler: One of the huge advantages is the reduction in testing and design requirements. If I’m going to launch something in pieces, I don’t have to worry about whether the entire assembly survives during launch – I only have to worry about whether the individual pieces survive. By testing at a lower level of integration, I’m saving costs and I’m saving time when I put them together on-orbit.

Another thing that approach lets you do is change your mind. Say you’re building numerous satellites and you have a choice of payloads and maybe you have a choice of power systems. If you have a modular architecture, you can change your mind about what a particular satellite is going to be in real-time. That’s basically unheard of now.

And, as I mentioned earlier, there’s this idea of taking advantage of smaller launch vehicles. There’s a group of investors today that are developing launch vehicles of much lower capacity than available medium-lift ones.  Similarly, DARPA is working on a launch system called XSP, which stands for Experimental Spaceplane, which is going to put 3,000-5,000 pounds into low Earth orbit. That mass range fills a gap between the very small launch vehicles and the larger ones. So by taking advantage of that emerging launch infrastructure that has a lot more variety to it, we get another reason to consider building satellites in orbit.

GSR: When it comes to all of these technologies and capabilities – on-orbit refueling, on-orbit servicing, adding payloads to existing satellites, building satellites in space – who is taking the lead in the development of these solutions?

Dr. Roesler: In the case of Gen One –life extension– it’s primarily industry. In the case of Gen Two– on-orbit refueling and on-orbit servicing– it’s definitely DARPA.

RSGS is a very large program dedicated to building a GEO robotic servicing vehicles and getting it on-orbit quickly. When I say that, I should also mention our commercial partner, SSL, who is building the bus and the ground segment and will eventually operate the satellite. And I should also mention the Naval Research Laboratory, which is responsible for all the advanced robotic work that’s leading to this capability. The technology is government-initiated, but we know that commercial players are eager to participate.

Then looking at Gen Three, I would say it’s a combination of DARPA, NASA, and industry. DARPA has some small projects centered around on-orbit assembly and also the idea of putting a persistent platform into GEO. One where payloads can come and go.

The analogy I like to use for such a platform is the antenna tower that you see along the highways. When you look at one of those towers, you’ll see a number of devices – cellphone antennas, point-to-point microwave, public safety radio antennas – all hanging on it. That’s because it’s cheaper to pay rent to the tower owner than it is to buy land and build a tower.

Obviously that makes sense in GEO as well. If you can just send up a payload to a persistent platform, you don’t have to worry about propulsion and attitude control. You have all that provided by the platform and you pay a fee to the platform operator for hosting your payload.

That’s really a win-win.

It could also provide flexibility, being able to swap the payloads more frequently and not have to worry about what the market is going to be like a few years from now.

If you missed part one of our two part conversation with Dr. Gordon Roesler, click HERE to read it in its entirety. For additional information on DARPA’s on-orbit servicing programs, click HERE.

The post In the future, we’ll build satellites in space – a Q&A with DARPA’s Gordon Roesler appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

Following that discussion, we reached out to Dr. Gordon Roesler, a Program Manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, who has been at the forefront of many of DARPA’s on-orbit servicing initiatives and programs. During our conversation with Dr. Roesler, we sought to learn more about how far on-orbit servicing technologies and capabilities have progressed, and to get a better picture of what on-orbit servicing can enable into the future.

In part one of our two-part conversation with Dr. Roesler, we talked about the current state of on-orbit servicing, what future generations of this technology will enable and why on-orbit servicing is in such high demand. Here is what Gordon had to say:

Government Satellite Report (GSR): Where does on-orbit servicing currently stand? Is this science fiction, or are we rapidly approaching a reality where satellites can be refueled and repaired in space? How long until we get there?

Dr. Roesler: As we move forward, there are going to be generations of servicing that offer increasingly sophisticated capabilities.

Generation One is what I call simple life extension, and there are already a couple of established players in that field. Effective Space is a UK organization that is building satellites that go up and dock with operating commercial communication satellites and help them maintain their positions and conserve their fuel, so that’s life extension through fuel conservation. Orbital ATK is doing something similar.

Generation Two is what DARPA is working on. We’re looking to use very sophisticated robotics to do things beyond just life extension. Using robotics, we’re looking to perform ultra close inspections, use robotic arms to repair satellites that aren’t functioning properly, or even perform upgrades – such as adding a new module to an operating spacecraft.

In terms of timing, Gen One is slated to launch in the 2018-2020 time frame and DARPA’s Gen Two servicer is going to launch in 2021.

I should also mention the NASA Restore-L effort, which blends Gen One and Gen Two technologies and capabilities. It’s a spacecraft that uses a DARPA robotic arm in order to refuel a NASA satellite. That’s effectively providing a Gen One service with a Gen Two technology.

GSR: What are the commercial benefits of on-orbit servicing? Why are commercial satellite operators interested in this capability?

Dr. Roesler: Let’s look at this in terms of the same Gen One and Gen Two breakout. When it comes to Gen One, life extension is a big reason for commercial interest. Life extension will provide an operator with fleet flexibility. Take, for example, SES, which has around 50 [satellites] in operation; if they can keep one of those on longer than was expected, they can shuffle the fleet around and provide services in a much more flexible way.

At the same time, this offers the benefit of minimizing capital expenditures by filling any gaps that might occur in the fleet without having to build an entirely new satellite. So the Gen One services are very valuable to commercial satellite operators.

Gen Two [on-orbit servicing] provides even more opportunity. Think about being able to bring up a new payload and attaching it to an existing satellite. Rather than having [to build] a new satellite to provide that capability, the operator only has to build a new payload. Not only does it defer capital expenditure, it actually reduces it.

This kind of idea of replacing payloads in-orbit also allows the operators to keep up with the needs of the terrestrial customer base. A satellite’s estimated life is around 15 years. That’s a long time to predict and understand what your customer base is going to look like or need. The ability to easily adjust the payloads in sync with customers can help keep the business case for that satellite alive.

Then there’s this idea of being able to perform repairs. About once every two years, a commercial satellite goes up and has some sort of deployment anomaly. If that could be repaired, not only does that allow you to recover the satellite capability faster than by building and launching a new spacecraft, but it also reduces insurance claims payouts. It’s really a win-win. So there’s a host of benefits from the development and introduction of Gen Two capabilities.

GSR: How do those benefits compare with the federal government and military? Are the benefits for them the same? Are there other reasons why they’re interested in this?

Dr. Roesler: Every one of those benefits that I mentioned also pertains to the U.S. government. The fleet flexibility, the reduced capital expenditures. We don’t have insurance companies, our insurance is from the taxpayers, so if we can save them the cost of a new satellite by repairing an anomaly, that’s a benefit as well.

There is also the ability to protect and provide resilience to our government satellites. An ultra close inspection with a robotic arm can help operators differentiate between an engineering flaw and a hostile act. So it could help to maintain rational behavior. When things fail and we don’t understand why they fail, we tend to be suspicious, that’s just the nature of it. This could alleviate that suspicion.

So there is a strategic benefit to this ultra close inspection. Also, there’s the benefit of being able to include new capabilities for protection of our existing satellites, as well as all the other benefits in terms of longevity and flexibility and repair.

Be sure to check back for part two of our conversation with Dr. Roesler, when we discuss the advanced capabilities that will be introduced via Gen Two on-orbit servicing, and what Gen Three could hold for the industry.

The post The progress and promise of on-orbit servicing – a Q&A with DARPA’s Gordon Roesler appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

The experts on the panel included:

• Rebecca Reesman, a member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation
• Tim Deaver, the Corporate Vice President of Development at SES Space and Defense
• Todd Master, the Program Manager of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA
• Al Tadros, the Vice President of Civil and DoD Business at SSL
• Joe Anderson, the Director of Mission Extension Vehicle Services at Orbital ATK

In my initial recap of the discussion, I looked at the technologies and new advancements that are making on-orbit servicing possible. I also explained why commercial satellite operators were so excited about the potential of servicing their satellites once they’re up in space. Now, I’d like to take a look at the specific government applications of this technology and the future advancements that on-orbit servicing could enable.

Similar but not exactly the same
As to be expected, many of the benefits that on-orbit servicing would deliver to the commercial satellite industry would be welcomed by the U.S. government and military. Those benefits included being able to service and refuel a satellite that has been launched to extend its life or help it bounce back from an anomaly. In fact, the government’s acquisition process may even make it more essential that satellites can be refueled and serviced in space.

As Todd Master discussed during the panel, “While the DoD isn’t new to long development timelines and expensive satellites, acquisitions have in some ways gotten away from us more and more in the last decade or two and these systems are incredibly expensive, but also incredibly valuable…”

As Todd pointed out, military satellites are a major expense to taxpayers. They also can take a long time to design, develop, build and launch. With satellites so mission-critical to the military, any anomaly that denies them the use of one or more satellites could eliminate important capabilities and have a significant, negative effect on the military’s ability to accomplish their mission.

Waiting to restore these services and capabilities until a new satellite can be launched would border on catastrophic. Being able to bring satellites back on-line via on-orbit servicing and repair would ultimately be faster, cheaper and more efficient – while also improving mission readiness and preparedness.

As space becomes more contested and our adversaries become increasingly capable of denying our satellite capabilities, this becomes increasingly important. But another potential, more futuristic solution could prove even more essential.

Why stop at servicing…?
If we’re going to have robots service and refuel satellites on orbit, why stop there? Why not look even bigger picture? Why not shoot for something even more impressive and futuristic?

When our military designed its satellites in the past, they were designing them for a benign environment. There were no adversaries with our space capabilities, and the thought that our satellite capabilities could be denied probably sounded like something out of a science fiction novel or movie. As a result, no defensive systems were necessary, so no defensive systems were built onto satellites.

Well, science fiction has become reality. Our adversaries have become increasingly advanced and capable – and now our satellites are no longer operating in a veritable safe space. This sentiment was echoed by Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the Commander of Air Force Space Command, in a memo to his personnel back in October, in which he wrote, “Space and cyberspace are no longer benign environments, they are contested operational domains.”

If we’re capable of interacting with satellites in space – refueling and repairing them – what is to keep us from taking the next logical step and adding capability to them? If satellites were built originally without defensive capability because that wasn’t necessary, could it be added by similar robotic means as in-orbit servicing?

The panelists and attendees from the commercial space industry were practically challenged to create that capability by Todd when he said, “…we’re seeing an increase in threats in space. The ability to…potentially add capabilities – such as defensive capabilities – is attractive.”

This ability to add payloads to existing satellites could come in handy for more than just adding defensive capabilities to existing military satellites.

Opening the door to more hosted payloads
Hosted payloads – the hosting of military payloads on commercially owned and operated satellites – is viewed across the government and industry as a way to help get military payloads into space faster and at a fraction of the cost. Ultimately, hosting payloads on commercial satellites allows the government to “hitch a ride” into space for its payload without having to build and launch a spacecraft itself.

Traditionally, this has been done while the satellite is still being built on Earth, but the ability to add payloads to on-orbit satellites could open the door to even more hosted payloads in the future – especially since this process would eliminate one of the largest challenges facing government hosted payloads today.

We reached out to Todd Gossett, the Senior Director of Hosted Payload Programs at SES Space and Defense to inquire into whether adding military payloads to commercial satellite on-orbit would be of interest to both parties, and why. According to Todd:

“That’s a good question, and the answer is,‘yes.’ One of biggest concerns keeping the federal government from embracing more hosted payload programs is that their payload won’t be ready in time to be mounted and tested on the satellite prior to the launch window. If payloads could be mounted following launch, it would eliminate this challenge. It could even be beneficial for sensitive payloads, since commercial partners on Earth would never need to interact with them.”

That’s good news to both the military and to taxpayers. Hosted payloads are widely viewed as a way to help increase the defensive posture of the military satellite network and architecture, since they effectively hide and distribute military payloads across commercial constellations. They’re also cheaper, which is great news for military budgets and the taxpayers footing the bill.

On-orbit servicing is exciting for the near-term capabilities it could enable – refueling and repairing already-launched satellites. It’s also exciting for the capabilities it could enable well into the future – which could include the addition of payloads to satellites in space, or even the construction of satellites in space. Regardless of which of those capabilities comes to fruition, it’s safe to say that the commercial space industry has a new area in which to innovate, and that new, exhilarating technologies could be on the horizon – technologies that deliver capabilities once thought impossible or unfeasible.

The post The government and military merits of on-orbit servicing appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

The panel discussion featured a veritable “who’s who” of space industry and government experts, including:

• Rebecca Reesman, a member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation
• Tim Deaver, the Corporate Vice President of Development at SES Space and Defense
• Todd Master, the Program Manager of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA
• Al Tadros, the Vice President of Civil and DoD Business at SSL
• Joe Anderson, the Director of Mission Extension Vehicle Services at Orbital ATK

This group of experts was assembled because they all are either driving on-orbit servicing, or will ultimately benefit from it. During their sometimes intense and overall riveting conversation, they defined on-orbit servicing, looked at the ways it can help the commercial satellite industry and even delved into the future technologies that could evolve and emerge from early on-orbit servicing solutions.

Based on the discussion between these individuals, it’s becoming increasingly clear that on-orbit servicing could be right around the corner and it could be an exciting and important new industry in space. So let’s explore how it works, and why it’s so exciting.

The “how” of on-orbit servicing
The concept of having commercial on-orbit servicing of satellites isn’t necessarily a new one – it’s something that the industry has flirted with for a while. However, it’s only now starting to look like a reality and less like science fiction.

There are obvious restrictions on what humans can do in space, but robots are not bound to those limitations, and advancements in robotics are just one of the multiple new technologies driving on-orbit servicing forward.

If you couple new innovations in robotics with new propulsion technologies, the evolution of advanced sensors and other advancements, and the concept of having a robot service a satellite in space suddenly seams surprisingly feasible.

Al Tadros summed this up well during the panel discussion when he said, “There were definitely some key technologies that evolved over the last ten years that are critical to satellite servicing…Robotics…is advancing quite a bit…making it not such a stretch of the imagination to do satellite servicing. There’s a number of elements that have culminated to make it not only technically feasible, but also economically feasible to do commercial satellite servicing.”

What we now have is a culmination and coming together of multiple exciting technologies and advancements that are making it completely possible to approach, interact with and service a satellite that has been built and launched into orbit. Commercial space companies are looking to make this a service that they offer to the government and commercial satellite operators.

So, that explains how on-orbit servicing is becoming a reality, but why? Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should – or that there’s a demand for it. However, in this instance, the demand could be far greater than some would imagine – especially among COMSATCOM operators.

The “why” of on-orbit servicing
To this day, once a satellite is in orbit, there’s currently no feasible way to make repairs to it. Should an anomaly arise, there really is no recourse for the satellite operator.

Aside from the repair issue, there’s also the issue of fuel. Perfectly good, functioning satellites often reach their end of life simply because they run out of fuel and have to be decommissioned.

The concept of on-orbit servicing could – in theory – fix all of that. Utilizing advanced robotics to conduct operations in space that a human simply can’t. Satellites could be repaired or refueled to help extend their life. This is a proposition that’s clearly exciting for commercial satellite operators because it gives them the ability to reduce or mitigate the losses from anomalies, while also prolonging the life of exceptionally expensive spacecraft that are already in orbit.

This point was reinforced by Tim Deaver during the panel discussion, when he said, “If a satellite program is going to cost us $300M to get up into orbit and it’s only going to last us 15 years, that’s about $20M a year in costs. If I can refuel it and get three more years for a reasonable cost…it makes economic sense.”

It’s going to make even more economic sense for commercial operators in the near future. The trend towards HTS satellites and the sheer numbers of “birds” in the sky has led to a decrease in bandwidth costs, as an influx of capacity has hit the market. As the cost for capacity decreases, it becomes even more essential for operators to maximize the life – and subsequently the revenue generated – from every satellite they launch.

As Tim said, “For us it’s about making sense in the marketplace. As we see the downturn in the price of capacity onboard and the revenue that we can generate from a satellite, it becomes about how do we get cheaper satellites, how do we get cheaper launch, and what can we do to satellites that are up in orbit that are still working well, but are getting to the end of [their] fuel life.”

It’s for this reason that Tim claims SES will be one of the first customers for Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) when it’s available.

However, the commercial industry isn’t the only group interested in on-orbit servicing of satellites. There are tremendous government and military use cases and opportunities for this technology. In our next article on the Government Satellite Report, we’ll delve into the reasons why the military is excited about this solution, and the unique future capabilities it could enable.

The post WSBR panel discussion illustrates industry interest in on-orbit servicing appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

<To watch GovSat-1 Launch on board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, click HERE>

Designed exclusively for the government and defense community, GovSat-1 is the first satellite of GovSat, which is a joint venture between the Government of Luxembourg and the world-leading satellite operator SES.

Positioned at 21.5 degrees East, this satellite will be ideally located to support communications within Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and to provide highly reliable and flexible interconnectivity for defense and institutional applications within its coverage area. GovSat-1 will also enable operations over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Multi-mission Satellite
GovSat-1 was designed for dual use to support both defense and civil security applications, including mobile and fixed communications. It is a multi-mission satellite that offers X-band and Military Ka-band capacity. The spacecraft will provide up to six high-powered and fully steerable spot beams, as well as an advanced Global X-band beam.

The X-band frequency is reserved for governments and institutions, and is an ideal mean to establish secure and robust satellite communication links, for example between theaters of tactical operations, maritime missions or over areas affected by a humanitarian crisis.

The Military Ka-band will be used predominantly for mobility applications in support of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The secure communication links it enables are characterized by smaller high-throughput VSAT terminals.

The Mediterranean Sea is one particular area covered by a high-power beam in military Ka-band. It is therefore ideally suited to enable communications for European Border Surveillance applications.

Equipped with anti-jamming features, encrypted telemetry and control, and frequencies reserved for governmental use, GovSat-1 will also provide enhanced resilience capabilities for more reliable connectivity.

GovSat-1 was built by Orbital ATK, and designed to operate for 15 years in geostationary orbit. The spacecraft has a launch mass of 4,230 kg. GovSat-1 has a diverse mix of transponder sizes in terms of bandwidth per transponder, offering in total 68 transponder-equivalent units of 36 MHz.

For additional information about GovSat-1, download a brochure by clicking HERE. To watch the launch of GovSat-1 on board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, click HERE.

The post GovSat-1 to deliver secure communications for governments appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

The extremely successful CHIRP program was invaluable in that it illustrated how hosted payloads can be a viable and more cost effective path into space for government agencies and branches of the military. CHIRP provided a blueprint for saving money and expediting government initiatives.

And now, even more government agencies are hitching a ride to space by placing their payloads onto the satellites of commercial satellite services providers.

In early April, SES Space and Defense announced that the University of Colorado and NASA would fund a payload aboard the SES-14 satellite. This Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission is designed to revolutionize the understanding of the space environment by filling the critical gap in knowledge of Sun-Earth connections.

Then, just a week later it was announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would pay to host a payload on board SES-15. This Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS) hosted payload is designed to serve as an air navigation aid developed by the FAA to augment the Global Positioning Systems (GPS), with the goal of improving its accuracy, integrity and availability.

Why are hosted payloads such an effective and efficient alternative to building and launching dedicated government satellites? To get a detailed answer to that question, we sat down with Pete Hoene, the CEO of SES Space and Defense.

In the following video, Pete discusses why commercial satellite communications are so essential for the federal government and military today, how the CHIRP program was able to meet a majority of Air Force objectives for approximately 15 percent of the cost, and why hosted payload programs inherently deliver cost savings to the federal government.

Here is what Pete had to say:

For additional information on hosted payloads, their benefits to the federal government and how they can provide economical access to space for government agencies and branches of the military, download the SES hosted payload white paper by clicking HERE. Or, read the following hosted payload resources: 

SES To Host NASA Payload on SES-14

SES To Host WAAS Payload On SES-15

Learn about the Hosted Payload Alliance

CHIRP featured in Beam Magazine

The post VIDEO: Pete Hoene on the benefits of hosted payloads appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

The CHIRP program was successful in accomplishing all of its mission objectives and had its initial demonstration period extended a total of three times. According to the Air Force, the more than 300 terabytes of OPIR data collected by CHIRP enabled, “Analysis of more than 70 missile- and rocket-launch events and more than 150 other infrared events.”

CHIRP was finally decommissioned in December of 2013, following 27 successful months of demonstrations.

We recently had the opportunity to interview the team responsible for the success of the CHIRP program. This team included Rich Pang, the Senior Director of Hosted Payloads at SES Space and Defense, Brent Armand, the Director of Hosted Payloads for Orbital ATK and John Fleming of Leidos (formerly SAIC).

During our conversation, we discussed the CHIRP program, the benefits of hosted payloads to the federal government and how to secure sensitive government data in hosted payload environments.

Here is what Rich, Brent and John had to say:

For additional information on hosted payloads, their benefits to the federal government and how they can provide economical access to space for government agencies and branches of the military, download the SES hosted payload white paper by clicking HERE. Or, read the following hosted payload resources:

• SES To Host NASA Payload on SES-14
• Learn about the Hosted Payload Alliance
• CHIRP featured in Beam Magazine

The post PODCAST: CHIRP team discusses program and benefits of hosted payloads appeared first on SES Space and Defense.