Artist rendition of the SES 8 satellite. Photo: Orbital

[Via Satellite 10-08-13] SES’ SES 8 satellite has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The satellite will now be processed for a November launch on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster. The satellite, manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation, features up to 33 Ku-band transponders (36 MHz equivalent).

The SES 8 will be co-located with the NSS 6 satellite at 95 degrees east to provide growth capacity over the Asia-Pacific region. SES 8 will be the 55th SES satellite to serve Asia-Pacific from this location. The spacecraft’s high performance beams will support the rapidly growing markets in South Asia and Indo-China, as well as provide expansion capacity for DTH, VSAT and government applications.

“SES looks forward to the maiden launch of an SES satellite on board the Falcon 9 rocket operated by SpaceX. When co-located with NSS 6 at 95 degrees east, SES 8 will not only provide incremental high performance capacity for multiple applications, it will also create greater reliability and additional security for customers. As such, the SES 8 satellite is an integral part of SES’ growing presence in Asia-Pacific,” said Martin Halliwell, CTO of SES.