Page 59 - SAMENA Trends - October 2021

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SES Sets Up Satellite Quantum Communication R&D Lab

European satellite operator SES has research activities with SES, spearheading as we are putting in place next-generation
created a joint R&D lab with the University of new technologies with impact on space and ground systems to enable the
Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for standardization, satellite-terrestrial growing connectivity demand in the high-
Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) to look integration, 5G and more. We are delighted performance networks,” said Ruy Pinto,
at the next generation of high-bandwidth to expand the collaboration and broaden Chief Technology Officer at SES. “Not only
secure satellite systems with quantum into new areas that will benefit information do the R&D activities with SnT benefit
communications. The agreement will use and communication technologies both in Luxembourg’s initiatives, this will also set
Luxembourg’s R&D and SES’s industry Luxembourg and beyond,” said Prof. Björn the path for scaling them on a global level,
expertise to explore next-generation Ottersten, Director of SnT. “This partnership leveraging SES’s multi-orbit capabilities
technology for high bandwidth satellite extension comes at a very important time and services delivered around the world.”
systems and multi-orbit capabilities, such
as SES’s Geostationary and Medium Earth
(MEO) orbit fleet. This will also give SES
and SnT early access to Luxembourg’s
MeluXina petascale supercomputer. This
will be used to test algorithms for radio
resource allocation for broadband satellite
communications systems to maximize the
system performance and to dynamically
assign the resources based on user
traffic demands. “The past 11 years has
seen us achieve great success in our

SES Sends New Half-a-Billion Satellite into Space

Luxembourg's SES sent its biggest and broadcasters that currently provides SES connections to the Earth's surface that
most advanced satellite in the company's with the bulk of its income slowly fades. are milliseconds faster than the farther-
history off into outer space on Sunday, it The giant new satellite also is expected to away SES-17 – will be integrated with their
said, after a last-minute delay. The SES- be integrated with nearly a dozen new units bigger cousin to reach similar customers.
17 - a half-billion-euro investment that below it, all orbiting Earth at about 8,000km. These include cruise and cargo ships
will enable passengers and crews to use The first handful of these middle-Earth- at sea; jets in the air; oil, gas and mining
WiFi aboard planes - lifted off from its orbit craft are to be launched later this year sites in remote locations; mobile phone
launch pad in French Guiana aboard an and more in early 2022, SES said. These network operators and military forces and
Ariane 5 rocket. The flight for the satellite, O3b mPower satellites – which feature government agencies, SES said.
ordered in 2016, ran into a one-day delay
due to additional ground checks, France's
Arianespace had said on Friday. SES-17
will now spend several months finding its
permanent slot hovering 36,000 km over
the American continents, the company
said. The satellite’s main mission will
be to sell access to high-speed Wi-Fi
connections for airline passengers and
crews while in flight. The spacecraft will
cost Société Européenne des Satellites
more than €500 million to build, launch and
operate and marks a milestone in SES's
bet of billions of euros on its future. Data
network access to and from points around
the world made up 41% of SES revenues in
2020, the company reported in February.
The segment is expected to grow rapidly,
at the same time that money from TV
59 OCTOBER 2021