Partnering up with US public Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC, the company received a $29m Funded Space Act Agreement for a Nasa communications service project. The aim of the partnership is to “deliver robust, reliable and cost-effective mission-oriented operations, enabling high-rate and high-capacity two-way communications,” SES said in a statement. This will target the development of near-Earth communication services for Nasa’s future needs during missions. 

The agreement adds to it had announced last week, when it revealed it had registered revenue of €448m during the first quarter of this year. The company’s quarterly results showed that its video segment is still in decline while its network business is stable.

The fund awarded to the partners for the Nasa project will serve to demonstrate commercial radio frequency relay for satcom services to spacecraft in low Earth orbit. SES’s medium Earth orbit constellations, which include the high-performance satellites O3b mPower launched in 2022, and the group’s geostationary satellites will enable a real-time always-on low-latency connectivity. This will aid Nasa in routine missions, contingency operations, launch and ascent and early operations phase communications. 

“Combining the multi-orbit capabilities of SES, the global leader in delivering content and connectivity solutions via satellite, with that of Planet Labs, one of the world’s leading commercial imaging companies, will create the world’s first high -throughput commercial space relay service, enabling timely and data-driven decisions,” said Pete Hoene, SES Government Solutions CEO.