SES launches payload for final test of its commercial space relay service for NASA
SES Space & Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, has placed into orbit a payload intended for the final, global-scale test of its commercial space relay services demonstration.
This launch, announced by press release on October 20, 2026, is part of the Communications Services Project (CSP) conducted by the U.S. space agency.
NASA plans to replace its TDRS fleet with commercial relays
NASA has announced that it will gradually retire its fleet of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) satellites. It plans to acquire commercial space relay services for its future scientific missions in low Earth orbit.
In 2022, the agency's Space Communications and Navigation division awarded $278.5 million to industry players, through the CSP, to fund the development and demonstration of these services.
In this context, SES Space & Defense states that it has already demonstrated its LEO Relay Service (LRS) on data relay systems in geosynchronous orbit and on the O3b mPOWER constellation in medium Earth orbit. These systems provide low and high-bandwidth services for mission data transmission and spacecraft health monitoring.
Planet's Pelican-12 satellite for final demonstration test
The payload was launched at 7:04 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Time) aboard Planet Labs PBC's Pelican-12 satellite, as part of SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 rideshare launch mission, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Pelican satellite is equipped with software-defined radio developed in-house, combined with a flat-panel tracking antenna with folded optics, for low-latency, high-bandwidth mission data transmission.
"The global-scale testing of our relay network represents the culmination of four years of LEO Relay Services (LRS) development, using operational constellations in orbit," said Sam Sutton, Vice President of Space Data Relay Services at SES Space & Defense. According to him, LRS enables continuous, low-latency connectivity regardless of satellite position, particularly for telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) functions.
Following the demonstration, SES Space & Defense will have reached a new milestone in the CSP program, which aims to validate commercial capabilities for future operational support to scientific missions in near-Earth orbit.
