Strictly for governmental use, the satellite will be launched, operated and owned by a new Luxembourg-based company held jointly by SES and the government.
Both SES and the Luxembourg government are to invest €50 million into the company, with a consortium of Luxembourg banks providing a €125 million loan for the satellite’s procurement and launch.
“This new, ambitious public-private partnership demonstrates the importance of Luxembourg in the international space sector and the close and successful ties between SES and Luxembourg,” said Karim Michel Sabbagh, president and CEO at SES.
“As a commercial satellite operator, SES is ideally positioned to deliver its know-how to this new venture, serving a large range of future governmental and institutional customers, creating significant entrepreneurial value and return for those customers and for the Grand-Duchy.”
The satellite will sit in the European arc – spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific – with enough capacity to meet Luxembourg’s military satellite requirements.
It will also use dedicated military frequencies – X-band and Ka-band – to provide high-powered, flexible spot beams which can support multiple operations at any one time.
“Emerging from the national space sector, this project is not only an important contribution of Luxembourg to European defence, but it further supports the government’s economic diversification policy in a key technology sector,” said Etienne Schneider.
