SES Space & Defense, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES, announced an agreement on Monday, July 27, 2026, with Starlab Space to supply continuous, low-latency Low Earth Orbit Relay Services (LRS) for the upcoming Starlab commercial space station.
Under the collaborative framework, SES Space & Defense will integrate space-to-space communications leveraging its next-generation O3b mPOWER Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellation to deliver uninterrupted connectivity for station crew, microgravity research payloads, and ground-based flight control operations.
Commercial Space Station Framework and Infrastructure Context
Starlab Space—a U.S.-led joint venture among Voyager Space, Airbus Defence and Space, Mitsubishi Corporation, MDA Space, Palantir Technologies, and Space Applications Services—is developing its free-flying platform under NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development (CLD) Program. The initiative aims to maintain a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and ensure a seamless transition for microgravity science following the scheduled retirement of the International Space Station.
To support the heavy operational requirements of the continuously crewed habitat, Starlab selected SES Space & Defense for its multi-orbit space and ground network capabilities. The selection follows prior platform milestones, including Starlab’s decision to launch the entire single-module station to orbit aboard a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle.
Operational Parameters of the Multi-Orbit Relay System
Direct-to-ground communications from LEO satellites and orbital stations routinely face periodic blackout windows and latency delays during transits between terrestrial ground station footprints. The LEO Relay Service overcomes these data delays by routing Starlab’s operational data, telemetry, and scientific output through SES’s high-throughput O3b mPOWER MEO constellation, which relays signals directly down to global terrestrial networks in near real-time.
The communications architecture is the outcome of two years of joint engineering analysis conducted throughout 2025 and 2026. Engineering teams from both organizations modeled in-orbit signal performance, evaluated multi-orbit terminal hardware, and tailored the relay topology to fit Starlab’s high-rate data requirements.
Executive Statements on Station Operations
“Human spaceflight and commercial research missions demand government-grade communications with reliability, security, and resilience at commercially affordable price points,” said SES Space & Defense President and CEO David Broadbent. “By integrating our LEO Relay Services into Starlab’s core operations, we’re setting a new benchmark for always-on communications across commercial LEO infrastructure.”
“Mission success in Low Earth Orbit depends on resilient, always-available communications infrastructure,” said Brad Henderson, Chief Commercial Officer of Starlab. “Through our collaboration with SES Space & Defense, we are building a robust, secure, and highly resilient communications architecture that ensures continuous connectivity and real-time mission awareness across all phases of station operations.”
Service Rollout and Expansion Roadmap
The integrated relay architecture will be fully operational at the launch of the Starlab commercial platform. Bandwidth capacity and relay capabilities will systematically scale over the station’s operational lifespan as next-generation user terminals and updated space-to-space transceiver systems come online.
