Overview
- The last three O3b mPOWER spacecraft, F11, F12 and F13, launched on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, completing SES’s planned 13-satellite medium-Earth-orbit constellation.
- Boeing says the new satellites will finish orbit-raising maneuvers and system checkouts and are forecast to enter service around mid 2027.
- An electrical fault discovered before the fifth and sixth satellites reduced their capacity and expected life, prompting hardware changes to satellites 7–11 and the addition of extra spacecraft to restore planned performance.
- O3b mPOWER’s satellites sit about 5,000 miles up in MEO and use software-defined payloads to steer and reassign bandwidth in real time, a design that also serves as a technical baseline for some defense communications.
- SpaceX flew the mission on a Falcon 9 first stage numbered B1080 on its 29th flight with a planned droneship landing, a launch that shows continued commercial reuse practices while unlocking higher-capacity links for cruise lines, airlines, telecom backhaul and governments.