SES-6

Mission type	Communications
Operator	SES S.A.
COSPAR ID	2013-026A
SATCAT no.	39172
Website	https://www.ses.com/
Mission duration	15 years (planned) 10 years, 10 months, 2 days (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Eurostar
Bus	Eurostar-3000
Manufacturer	EADS Astrium
Launch mass	6,010 kg (13,250 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	3 June 2013, 09:18:31 UTC[1]
Rocket	Proton-M / Briz-M
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 200/39
Contractor	Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Entered service	August 2013
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Geostationary orbit
Longitude	40° West
Transponders
Band	91 transponders: 43 C-band 48 Ku-band
Bandwidth	36 MHz
Coverage area	North America, Latin America, Europe, Atlantic Ocean
SES constellation ← SES-5 SES-7 →

SES-6 is a commercial geostationary communication satellite owned and operated by SES S.A.

Launch

Constructed by EADS Astrium, it was launched on 3 June 2013 at 09:18:31 UTC from Baikonour by Proton-M / Briz-M launch vehicle and carries 43 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders.^[2] With 43 C-band and 48 Ku-band 36 MHz equivalent transponders (38 C-band and 36 Ku-band physical transponders), the 6,010 kg (13,250 lb) satellite has a design life of 15 years. It is built on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus.^[3]

Market

The SES-6 satellite replaces the aging NSS-806 (launched on 28 February 1998 as Intelsat 806). It is nearly twice as large as NSS-806, with two C-band beams and has a total of five steerable Ku-band beams, including four beams for the Americas and one beam covering the Atlantic Ocean region.^[3] The C-band beams cover the East Atlantic (Europe, North Africa) and West Atlantic (United States, Mexico, South America). The Ku-band beams cover East Atlantic (Europe, Iceland, Greenland), West Atlantic (Eastern United States, Eastern Canada) and Brazil.^[4]

SES-6 provides the cable community with 50% more C-band capacity than NSS-806, while retaining the unique ability to transport content across the Americas and Europe on the same high powered beam. In addition, SES-6 offers a substantial upgrade to Ku-band capacity in the region with dedicated high power beams over Brazil, South cone, the Andean region, North America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, while also offering an innovative payload to support mobile maritime and aeronautical services on the highly demanded routes from North America, the Gulf of Mexico, across the North Atlantic and to Europe.^[3]

Following the launch, SES announced a long-term capacity agreement to provide a new direct-to-home (DTH) platform in Brazil with Brazilian telecommunication group Oi, which would become the largest user of the new satellite.^[2]