SES has announced that SES-9 has safely arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is being processed for a mid-January 2016 launch on board Space X's newly upgraded Falcon 9 rocket.

SES-9 will be positioned at 108.2 degrees East and provide both replacement and incremental capacity for a prime video neighbourhood over Asia which already serves over 22 million households with high quality broadcast solutions.

The spacecraft will be co-located with SES-7 and increases SES's global video capabilities to serve fast-growing markets in Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

The spacecraft is also designed to deliver reliable data connectivity to homes and enterprises across Asia, and provides dedicated beams to support growing mobility communications needs across the Indian Ocean.

SES-9 was built by Boeing Satellite Systems and is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit with a 12.7-kilowatt payload and 57 high-power Ku-band transponders (equivalent to 81 + 36 MHz transponders).

SES-9 will use a chemical bi propellant apogee motor to quickly achieve a 24h synchronous orbit and then electric propulsion to circularise the final orbit and to remove eccentricity at 36,000 kilometers over the equator. Subsequent on-orbit manoeuvres will be executed with electric propulsion.

Martin Halliwell, Chief Technical Officer at SES, commented: "SES-9 is the latest step in the globalisation of SES's video capabilities, and provides additional capacity to serve a range of Next Generation Data and Mobility applications in the Asia-Pacific region.

As SES's first spacecraft to use electric propulsion, SES-9 incorporates some of the latest innovations, helping SES to reduce cost and deliver the next generation of satellite today."