A book, High Above, telling the story of the founding of SES and the development of its first Astra satellites was published in 2010 to mark the company's 25th Anniversary, and was followed by Even Higher in 2012 and Beyond Frontiers in 2016.

SES was the pioneer of 'co-location' by which several satellites share the same orbital position to provide mutual backup and increase the number of channels available to a fixed receiving dish, creating what became known as a 'satellite neighbourhood'.

In 2001, SES bought 28.75% of Argentina's Nahuelsat and acquired GE Americom, giving it a solid presence in the important North American market.

[20] Also in 2009, SES announced its investment in O3b Networks a project to build a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation to deliver high-speed, low-latency, fibre-like internet broadband trunking to the world's emerging regions ("the Other 3 billion").

[30] SES-6 was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 3 June 2013 to 40.5° East, to replace NSS-806 and provide continuity of service and expansion capacity in C-band for Latin America and the Caribbean.

[36] In May 2014 SES announced that the engineering services division, SES TechCom had joined with the Luxembourg Government and the Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, and five Non-governmental organisations (NGO) – Archemed, Fondation Follereau, Friendship, German Doctors and Médecins Sans Frontières to form Satmed, an eHealth platform to improve public health in emerging and developing countries, especially in remote areas with poor connectivity.

[44] In April 2016, SES announced that (subject to regulatory approvals which are expected to be completed by the end of 2016) it will pay US$20 million to increase its fully diluted ownership of O3b Networks from 49.1% to 50.5%, taking a controlling share in the company.

[52] In May 2017, SES announced the successful integration with the SES-14 satellite of the NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) scientific hosted payload built by the University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

The consortium's proposal to the FCC is to act as a facilitator for the clearing and repurposing of a 200 MHz portion of C-band spectrum to accelerate the deployment of next generation 5G services while protecting incumbent users and their content distribution and data networks in the US from potential interference.

[66] In September 2019, SES announced it had partnered with satellite payload and network management systems developer, Kythera Space Solutions to develop the ARC (Adaptive Resource Control) software to enable the dynamic control and optimisation of power, throughput, beams and frequency allocation on O3b mPOWER, SES-17 and other future high-throughput satellites and their networks, autonomously optimizing space and ground resources, on-the-fly, in accordance with customers' changing needs.

[69] In September 2019, SES announced a new Free-to-view DTH platform on Astra 1N at 19.2° East, encrypted using Verimatrix and carrying 30-40 channels from Russian-language OTT broadcaster Kartina TV for Russian-speaking diaspora across Europe with limited broadband connectivity.

The SES Board of Directors approved US$1.6 billion for the procurement and launch of new satellites and other equipment and services for the migration of existing customers using the spectrum, which will be reimbursable through the FCC Clearinghouse.

[79][80] In February 2021, SES agreed multi-year extension capacity contracts worth over €66 million with European public service broadcasters including ARD, BBC, BVN, France 24, TV5Monde and ZDF[81] In March 2021, the Luxembourg government further extended the contract with SES to provide the Satmed satellite eHealth platform to improve public health in remote areas of developing countries until 2024, with a €6.5 billion budget and plans for additional functionalities and deployments, and new partnerships with both more NGOs and supranational organisations to provide regional or cross-country support.

SES-17 has an all-electric propulsion system and will reach its 67.1°W position in geostationary orbit in mid-2022, providing coverage for aeronautical, maritime, enterprise, and government markets across the Americas, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean.

Under the agreement, SES will install filters and other equipment to Earth Stations across the entire country, to give Verizon access to the 3.7-3.8 GHz C-band spectrum in key regions ahead of the deadlines for relocation of existing satellite services set out in the FCC's order to make part of the C-Band spectrum available for 5G terrestrial fixed and mobile broadband services.

With both Ku-band and C-band transponders, the reconfigurable software-defined satellite will replace NSS-12 at 57°E, providing content delivery and connectivity across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

[110] On 16 December 2022, the first two O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:48 pm local time.

It is expected to take approximately six months for each satellite to reach its designated medium Earth orbit and for commissioning, and the O3b mPower service to start in Q3 2023.

[112] In February, High View announced that its streamed travel and documentary channels, Xplore, Hip Trips and One Terra will also broadcast free-to-air via Astra 19.2°E from 1 March 1, 2023.

[119] On 28 April 2023, the third and fourth O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The two high-throughput satellites will join the first two O3b mPOWER craft, launched in December 2022, in medium Earth orbit (MEO) to provide connectivity services beginning later in the year.

[134] On 12 November 2023, the fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

[138] In April 2024, SES announced that the O3b mPOWER medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellite system is operational, and services would be rolled out to customers “in the coming months”.

[9][10][140] In May 2024, SES announced the Open Orbits Inflight Connectivity Network which combines GEO and MEO Ka-band satellite networks of SES and independent regional operators including NEO Space Group, AeroSat Link, and Hughes Communications India, to enable inflight video and data connectivity to seamlessly move between operators as an aircraft traverses the globe.

[145] In October 2024, SES extended until 2029 its long-established partnership with Sky to provide multi-transponder capacity at the Astra 28.2°E orbital position to deliver satellite TV to more than 17 million households across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

[147][148] On 17 December 2024, the seventh and eighth O3b mPOWER satellites were successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SES satellites transmit a variety of digital formats from radio to Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) and the company has been instrumental in defining technical standards for broadcast and interactive media.

[165] The SES-12, SES-14 and SES-15 satellites (launched in June 2018, January 2018 and May 2017, respectively) are constructed with an electric plasma propulsion system for orbit raising and in-orbit manoeuvres[166] to save weight and enable a larger communications payload to be included.

[167] [168] [169] SES is the first commercial customer for Space Infrastructure Servicing (SIS) future satellite life extension mission, following an agreement in June 2017 with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA).

[185] SES-14 (launched January 2018) hosts the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission for NASA to investigate the Sun's impact on the Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere.