O3b mPOWER Mission: SpaceX Launches Satellites For SES' Broadband Constellation

SpaceX launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission at 2112 UTC on July 22, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying the ninth and tenth satellites of the O3b mPOWER constellation into medium Earth orbit (MEO).

The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage booster B1090-6 landed back to Earth on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions" approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, as planned.

The launch was originally scheduled for Monday, July 21, but was scrubbed 11 seconds before liftoff due to unspecified reasons.

The two O3b mPOWER satellites, built by Boeing, are part of Luxembourg-based SES’s global broadband system designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet to remote and mobile markets, competing with SpaceX Starlink which deploys satellites to low Earth orbit(LEO) instead.

SES plans to continue expanding the O3b mPOWER constellation through 2026 to meet rising global demand for reliable, high-throughput connectivity. The company's mPOWER constellation consists of eight satellites in medium-Earth orbit, all of which have been launched by SpaceX. The network is already operational, but will eventually feature 13 spacecraft.

Tuesday's mission marked SpaceX's 89th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the sixth flight for this particular first-stage booster, which had previously launched NASA’s Crew-10, the Bandwagon 3 rideshare, and two Starlink missions.