SiriusXM Orders Two New Satellites

SiriusXM has selected Space System Loral (SSL) to provide to high power satellites to continue the delivery of SiriusXM's audio entertainment and data services.

According to SatNews, The satellites will be SXM-7 and SXM-8 and they will replace the XM-3 and XM-4 satellites. These exchanges will occur in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and will serve the more than 30.6 million subscribers across North America.

Both SXM-7 and SXM-8 will operate in the S-band spectrum and each satellite will generate more than 20 kW of power and will have a large, unfurlable antenna reflector, which enables broadcast to radios without the need for large dish-type antennas on the ground.

SSL has previously built a total of seven satellites for SiriusXM, including its first generation Sirius satellites, which were launched in 2000. Of the seven satellites built, one was a ground spare that was never needed due to the reliability of the original constellation and that satellite was donated to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in 2012.

Both of these satellites are based on the SSL 1300 platform, which has the flexibility to support a broad range of applications and technology advances—they are designed to provide service for 15 years or longer.