Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES confirmed that the last three O3b mPOWER satellites are in medium Earth orbit. The constellation now numbers 13 spacecraft.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral on September 13 at 2:49 pm local time. The satellites separated from the rocket at an altitude of 8,000 km. Deployment began 33.5 minutes after liftoff and took about 14 minutes. Booster B1080 landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic roughly nine minutes after launch. It was that booster’s 29th flight.
For the Falcon family, this was flight number 700. The count starts with the debut of Falcon 1 in March 2006. That rocket flew five times, and three of those flights ended in failure. Falcon 9 took over in 2010 and now accounts for the vast majority of the family’s missions. Falcon Heavy, the only other vehicle in the line, has flown 13 times.
Ten O3b mPOWER satellites were already working in orbit before this launch. Getting them there took six Falcon 9 flights from December 2022 onward, and SES brought the most recent pair into service in March.
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Each satellite weighs about 1,700 kg and was built by Boeing. Customers get links ranging from tens of megabits to several gigabits per second. SES sells that capacity to telecom operators, airlines, shipping companies, government agencies and the military. The new spacecraft join 20 first-generation O3b satellites that also work in medium Earth orbit.
The three newcomers are due to enter service by mid-2027. “This launch marks a defining milestone for SES as we complete the O3b mPOWER constellation,” CEO Adel Al-Saleh said. He added that the additions reinforce the company’s ability to deliver resilient, secure and scalable connectivity to customers around the world.
For SpaceX, this was the 107th orbital launch of the year, with 105 of them flown by Falcon 9 and two by Falcon Heavy. The company has also run two suborbital Starship tests in 2026. A third flight is in preparation, and it may put the vehicle into orbit.
