SES-17 launch; Credit: SES S.A.

Luxembourg satellite company SES S.A. has announced the successful launch of its SES-17 satellite into space.

The SES-17 was launched into space onboard an Ariane 5 launcher operated by Arianespace from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Sunday.

From its orbital slot of 67.1 degrees West orbital slot, the multi-mission Ka-band satellite will provide comprehensive coverage across the Americas, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. It will begin operation in mid-2022.

Built by Thales Alenia Space, SES-17 marks an important milestone in satellite technology as the first Ka-band geostationary satellite to embark a fully digital payload powered the most powerful digital transparent processor (DTP) ever placed in orbit. It will have nearly 200 user beams that can be connected to any other beam at any time, as well as the ability to dynamically change the power and frequency allocation of any beam. It is also the first GEO satellite to use Adaptive Resource Control (ARC), an industry-first software system that leverages the flexibility of totally digital payloads to autonomously adapt space and ground resources on the fly to meet customer needs.

"We are immensely excited to have SES-17 join our GEO fleet and medium earth orbit (MEO) constellation. SES-17 is the fruit of a successful collaboration between the Thales Group, Thales Alenia Space and SES, and will enable us to address the exponential connectivity demands in aviation and maritime, and to accelerate digital inclusion initiatives across the Americas", said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. "Thanks to Arianespace, SES-17 is now on its way to orbit. We are looking forward to SES customers being able to leverage the high throughput, global reach and low-latency of SES's multi-orbit, interoperable Ka-band satellite network comprising SES-17 and our upcoming O3b mPOWER constellation".

"What a launch – SES-17 has mobilised all Thales Alenia Space experts – from the innovative design of the satellite itself to the last combined operations – and is now on its way to orbit. Fully-digital and highly-innovative, SES-17 will benefit from all the state-of-art technologies we have developed to fulfil the market's connectivity needs", added Herve Derrey, CEO of Thales Alenia Space.