El Segundo, California and Betzdorf, Luxembourg – SES S.A. is expanding its capabilities to provide direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting and other communications services in Northeast Asia, South Asia and Indonesia, as well as maritime communications for vessels in the Indian Ocean by building a new communication satellite, SES-9, through Boeing.

The spacecraft will be positioned at the orbital slot of 108.2°E and provide incremental as well as replacement capacity to this well established SES slot over Asia, where it will be co-located with the existing SES-7 and NSS-11 satellites.

SES-9 will be built in Boeing’s El Segundo Satellite Development Center based on the Boeing 702HP platform. The satellite is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit with a 12.7kW payload and 57 high-power Ku-band transponders.

Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES, said, “SES-9 will greatly expand our transmission capacity over Asia, while adding increased flexibility and redundancy to a strategic orbital slot. SES is convinced that Boeing’s 702HP will prove to be mission-critical in order to provide state-of-the-art, high-power satellite capacity to the thriving markets of Asia.”