A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:04pm. The SES-22 satellite was onboard and was launched toward orbit, reported Space.
About 8.5 minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9 went back and landed on SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
SES satellite
The first of SES’s C-band satellites dedicated to freeing up the lower 300MHz of C-band spectrum is built by Thales Alenia Space, and will operate in the 135 degrees West orbital slot, according to SES.
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It will deliver TV and radio to millions of American homes and provide other critical data transmission services. SES-22 is expected to start operations by early August 2022.
The launch of SES-22 is part of a broader Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program to clear a portion of C-band spectrum to enable wireless operators to deploy 5G services across the contiguous US (Conus).
Satellite operators such as SES are required to transition their existing services from the lower 300 MHz to the upper 200 MHz of C-band spectrum to make room for 5G.
SES will launch five satellites – SES-18, SES-19, SES-20, SES-21 and SES-22 in 2022 to meet the FCC’s deadline of clearing C-band spectrum across the US by December 2023 while maintaining uninterrupted services.
“The launch of SES-22, together with other upcoming C-band satellite launches scheduled this year, will enable us to continue providing the high-quality services that our customers have been accustomed to over the last several decades, while freeing up spectrum that will enable the US to rapidly unlock the promise of 5G,” says SES CEO Steve Collar.
“The SES-22 launch is the result of our long-standing and fruitful collaboration with SES,” Thales Alenia Space president and CEO Hervé Derrey says.
“This achievement reflects the robustness and flight-proven heritage of our Spacebus 4000 B2 platform combined with our ability to timely and quickly deliver SES-22, two key elements leading to the decision of SES working with us to replace its existing C-Band fleet.”
SES-22 is the seventh SES satellite launched by SpaceX over the last 10 years.
This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 4 July 2022.
