LUXEMBOURG -- SES, a leading space solutions company, and K2 Space, an innovative new space technology firm, announced a strategic collaboration to advance the development of SES’s future medium Earth orbit (MEO) network. The collaboration combines SES’s decades of experience operating global multi-orbit networks, including its O3b mPOWER MEO network, with K2 Space’s agile engineering capabilities to co-develop future network infrastructure and technologies.

Earlier this year, SES and K2 Space started development activities to validate new network technologies geared for commercial and sovereign government applications. An on-orbit mission in the first quarter of 2026 will be the first step towards rolling out SES’s future MEO network. This marks a shift in the traditional satellite industry approach, moving from legacy waterfall models to an iterative process that supports continuous innovation and responsiveness to market needs.

“Our future MEO network will evolve through agile innovation cycles,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “By collaborating with K2 Space and other trusted innovative partners, we’re combining our solutions development experience and operational depth with NewSpace agility to develop a flexible, software-defined network that adapts to customer requirements.”

Development efforts will span Europe and the United States, leveraging the strengths of both companies to overcome long development timelines, while accelerating delivery of high-value network services.

“This collaboration is about rethinking how advanced space networks are developed,” said Karan Kunjur, CEO of K2 Space. “SES brings extensive operational expertise, and we bring the speed and flexibility of a technology startup. Together, we’re building the foundation for a network that is scalable and adaptable to a broad range of applications.”

This initiative is a key component of SES’s future MEO strategy, which emphasizes modular growth, open architecture, software-defined capabilities, and support for both commercial and government solutions. SES’s future MEO network will be designed to support multi-mission capabilities such as hosted payloads, space situational awareness, direct-to-device data relay, and sovereign services, while enabling reliable communications for mobility applications and resilient enterprise backhaul.