SES Taps K2 Space to Accelerate Next-Gen MEO Satellite Network, meoSphere

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- SES, a space solutions company, today announced it will deploy meoSphere, a next-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030 and designed to significantly boost the company’s MEO network capacity.

The program launches with a close collaboration designed for efficient satellite production. SES will pair its own software-defined payloads, being developed and manufactured in Luxembourg, with an initial 28 high-power satellite platforms developed by K2 Space, representing the first phase of the broader meoSphere rollout. The collaboration gives SES tighter control over key supply-chain elements, compresses the build timeline, and allows the company to manage schedules and costs with precision, laying the foundation for future scalability.

meoSphere is SES’s next generation MEO network, significantly boosting global broadband capacity, increasing user data speeds while reducing terminal sizes and costs. These step-change improvements come from advances in payload and terminal technologies, software-defined networking, 5G non-terrestrial network (5G NTN) standards and MEO’s inherent strengths: efficient geographic coverage, ability to steer capacity to the high-demand areas, optimizing ground-station deployment, and low latency. The network is designed to meet growing demand for secure, stable, reliable, and resilient connectivity across government, mobility, and fixed telecommunications markets. The meoSphere network will be compatible with Europe’s IRIS² program.

Orbiting at about 8,000 kilometers above Earth, SES is designing meoSphere for adaptability across new missions, new use cases, and new customer segments. Beyond its core broadband mission, the network’s flexible architecture will support multiple missions simultaneously, including integration with sovereign networks, serving governments and other customers that require sovereign solutions. meoSphere will also support the growing space economy, functioning as a space-based host for customer payloads and as a “backbone network in space” that enables interconnections between constellations in all orbits to relay data to each other and to the ground in real time.

“Space is the invisible backbone of the global data economy and national security,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “Together with K2 Space and other space partners, we’re building meoSphere as essential infrastructure—constructed faster, designed to handle massive data demands globally, and built to support the secure, resilient sovereign networks that our global government allies depend on.”

“The meoSphere partnership with SES is a clear validation of K2’s mission to build the highest power satellites on orbit to realize our partners’ and customers’ ambitions in space,” said Karan Kunjur, Co-Founder and CEO of K2 Space. “We’re incredibly proud to partner in this effort with SES, a longstanding and forward-leaning space industry leader who shares our commitment to building new, efficient space architectures at speed and scale.”

Over the next three years, SES plans to launch a series of MEO “pathfinder” missions with K2 Space to test and validate the satellite bus and SES payload components in orbit, refine operational concepts, and reduce risk ahead of full-scale deployment. Each mission will carry progressively greater payload complexity, incorporating lessons learned from earlier flights into the development cycle.

This announcement builds on SES’s collaboration with K2 to develop a next generation MEO network. This initiative is included in the company’s previously-announced capital expenditure guidance for full-year 2026 and is expected to conform to SES's financial policy of disciplined capital deployment. The company is committed to using a disciplined mix of commercial and public-private approaches to mitigate financial risk. In addition, SES intends to maintain a dual supply chain across the Atlantic to strengthen resilience against potential constraints in parts availability, permitting, and logistics.

Designed for continuity, built for confidence

meoSphere is engineered for customers whose operations cannot afford uncertainty — where connectivity failures have real-world consequences and performance must be guaranteed.

For government and defense customers, that means command-and-control communications that are resilient in contested environments. MEO's orbital geometry offers inherent resilience: a smaller number of widely-spaced satellites presents a fundamentally different threat profile than dense low-orbit constellations, while the network's transparent payload architecture allows sovereign customers to operate their own waveforms and modems including in the “military Ka-Band" spectrum range, preserving the security and independence that classified and sensitive missions require. Space-based routings via optical intersatellite links (OISLs) ensure traffic always lands in secure gateways.

For mobility customers in aviation and maritime, meoSphere will deliver fiber-equivalent throughput to support passenger connectivity, crew communications, and operational systems, simultaneously across ocean routes where coverage gaps are not an option. For commercial aviation, its combination of high throughput and low latency is built to perform at scale. meoSphere's flexible design will enable SES to offer mobility clients multi-orbit solutions in combination with LEO and GEO.

For telecommunications operators and enterprises, meoSphere will offer a high-performance connectivity layer based on a 5G-NTN network suited to customers seeking path diversity and extended network reach.

How meoSphere is built: architecture and the K2 Space platform

meoSphere is a multi-mission space network built for government and commercial customers that require a high degree of security, control, reliability and resilience.

The architecture is optimized to take advantage of inherent strengths of the payload and bus: the high-power K2 Space satellite bus, which handles power, propulsion, flight control, and other foundational platform systems; and the digital regenerative SES payload, which carries the mission equipment—radios, processors, and antennas—to connect users and networks on the ground. By developing payloads and related software in-house, SES can apply repeatable design and test methods to accelerate batch production and maintain direct oversight of the performance characteristics that matter most to customers.

meoSphere architecture will allow SES to scale the network over time beyond the first 28 satellites. Scaling of the network will be determined by market demand.

meoSphere specifications

Architecture
- 8,000 km altitude
- 4 inclined orbital planes, 7 satellites per plane (for Phase 1) for global pole-to-pole coverage
High-Power Platform, significantly more than previous generations
- Each satellite delivers 20 kW of power, significantly higher than previous generations.
Long-Duration Mission Design
- Equipped with twin thrusters to support extended mission life and maneuverability.
Flexible, Multi-Mission Bus
- K2’s satellite bus supports multiple payloads and mission types, including hosted payloads, sovereign network functions and in-space data connectivity
Optical Intersatellite Links (OISLs)
- Enable direct satellite-to-satellite communication.
- Interoperable with other constellations and space-based missions.
- Provides enhanced network resilience and faster space-to-ground relay.
Optical Networking for Ultra-Fast Relay
- Supports up to 100 Gbps optical data relay for:
  - meoSphere satellite crosslinks
  - Direct-to-device (D2D) missions
  - Earth observation data relay
  - LEO constellations data relay
  - Space stations and orbital data centers
Edge Computing & Storage: Enables local processing of data for analytics and AI workloads.
- Offers ultra-secure storage for sovereign data management
- Reduces dependency on ground infrastructure by avoiding downlink-first workflows.
User Access & Terminals
- Up to 1 Gbps using flat panel electronically steerable antennas (ESAs).
- Up to 4 Gbps using parabolic antennas for trunking applications.
Terminal Options: Standard 50 × 50 cm and 25 × 25 cm ESAs to be available for governmental, mobility, and fixed data applications.
5G-NTN and 3GPP Compliance: Ensures seamless integration with terrestrial mobile networks and other NTN systems.

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About SES

At SES, we believe that space has the power to make a difference. That’s why we design space solutions that help governments protect, businesses grow, and people stay connected—no matter where they are. With integrated multi-orbit satellites and our global terrestrial network, we deliver resilient, seamless connectivity and the highest quality video content to those shaping what’s next. Following our Intelsat acquisition, we now offer more than 100 years of combined global industry leadership—backed by a track record of bringing innovation “firsts” to market. As a trusted partner to customers and the global space ecosystem, SES is driving impact that goes far beyond coverage. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com

About K2 Space

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. By scaling capability and production, K2 delivers systems ready for the most demanding missions – from national security and global communications to deep-space research – with reliable performance wherever they operate. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, K2 Space has raised more than $450M from leading investors including Altimeter, Redpoint, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed, Alpine Space Ventures, and First Round.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains, and our officers and representatives may from time to time make, certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “believe,” “will,” and similar expressions or their negative. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding the meoSphere rollout, collaboration, and development and the expected timing, impacts and benefits thereof.

Forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance and are subject to inherent uncertainties and risks that are difficult to predict such as: risks relating to satellite launch delays or failures; in-orbit damage, failures, or degredations that could impair commercial performance of a satellite or lead to shorter-than-expected satellite life; dependence on a small number of manufacturers and suppliers and supply chain risk; operations in a highly competitive industry and GEO, MEO, and LEO competition; pursuit of growth opportunities or contracts may not yield expected benefits; and risks associated with strategic investments.

Other factors that might cause such a difference include those discussed in our filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form F-4. Should one or more of these uncertainties or risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SES Taps K2 Space to Accelerate Next-Gen MEO Satellite Network, meoSphere