Boeing 702

WGS (Wideband Global Satcom) Satellite

Boeing 702 is a communications satellite design. The Boeing Satellite Development Center tailors the payload of each Boeing 702 to meet customer specifications based on a modular design but with usually more than seventy transponders.[1]

The baseline Boeing 702 is compatible with several orbital launch systems, including Delta IV, Atlas V, Ariane 5, Proton, Sea Launch operated Zenit 3SL and Falcon 9.[2]

702HP

The high power 702 platform was originally announced in October 1998. With the 2009 introduction of the 702MP "mid-power version", the legacy Boeing 702 platform, which had been continuously evolved, was designated the Boeing 702HP for "high-power".[3]

702MP

In 2009 Boeing introduced the 702MP platform, a mid power solution based on the high power 702HP platform. The 702MP provides the high-capability features inherent in the flight-proven Boeing 702HP satellite model, but with a substantially updated satellite bus structure and simplified propulsion system.[4] The 702MP was designed for satellites in the middle-level power ranges, supporting payloads ranging from 6 to 12 kilowatts.

Intelsat is the lead customer for the 702MP. Boeing is building Intelsat 21, Intelsat 22, Intelsat 27 and Intelsat 29e (the first EpicNG) satellites based on the platform.[5] On May 2013, Intelsat ordered an additional four EpicNG satellites from Boeing. The first of this new order will be Intelsat 33e.[6] On July 2014, Boeing announced the order of a ninth Intelsat 702MP order, the EpicNG Intelsat 35e.[7]

702SP

By 2005, Boeing was offering a Xenon Ion Propulsion System (XIPS) option for the 702 satellite system.[8] XIPS is 10 times more efficient than conventional liquid fuel systems. On a XIPS equipped 702 satellite, four 25 cm (9.8 in) thrusters provide economical station-keeping, needing only 5 kg (11 lb) of fuel per year, "a fraction of what bipropellant or arcjet systems consume".[8] An XIPS-equipped satellite can be used for final orbit insertion, conserving even more payload mass, as compared to using a traditional on-board liquid apogee engine.[8][9]

Beginning in 2012, Boeing began manifesting all-electric propulsion commsats on the 702SP XIPS propulsion bus for eventual location in Geosynchronous orbit. These satellites were the first which were to be launched with the intent to fully position the satellites using electric propulsion, thus requiring four to six months following launch to ready the satellite for its communication mission, but at substantial reduction in launch mass and, therefore, launch cost.[2][9]

As of March 2014, Boeing had sold four of the 702SP satellites to Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) of Hong Kong and Mexico's SatMex, with the first two commsats planned for a paired launch in early 2015.[10]

In November 2014, Boeing released information that two of the 702SP satellites they have built—ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B—had completed manufacture and had been stacked conjoined as they prepared for a launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle in early 2015. This was to be Boeing's first-ever conjoined launch of two commsats.[11] The two commsats were launched aboard a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 3:50AM UTC on 2 March 2015 (10:50PM EST on 1 March 2015).

On February 16, 2014, SES announced that it had ordered the 702SP-based SES-15.[12]

Customers

Customer Satellites Comments
Asia Broadcast Satellite
DirecTV
Eutelsat
Hughes Communications
Inmarsat
Intelsat Plus 3 unnamed EpicNG
Mexican Government
  • MEXSAT 1 (Centenario)[16]
  • MEXSAT 2 (Morelos 3)
New Skies
plus 2 options
New York Broadband LLC
PanAmSat
  • Galaxy XI
  • Galaxy III-C
  • PAS-1R
Telesat Canada
  • Anik F1
  • Anik F2
SES
SkyTerra
  • SkyTerra 1 (ex MSV 1)
  • SkyTerra-2 (cancelled, repurposed as Mexsat-1)
Thuraya
United States Air Force Wideband Global SATCOM system
ViaSat
XM Satellite Radio

References

  1. ↑ "Boeing 702 Fleet". Boeing.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Electric Satellites For Commercial Satcom, Amy Svitek, Aviation Week, 19 Mar 2012, accessed 2012-03-20
  3. ↑ "Boeing 702HP Fleet". Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  4. ↑ "Boeing 702MP Satellite". Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  5. ↑ "Boeing 702MP Fleet - Intelsat". Boeing.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Boeing to Build 4 More Intelsat Epic 702MP Satellites" (Press Release). Boeing. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Boeing to Build Intelsat 35e EpicNG Satellite" (Press Release). 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Boeing 702 Fleet". Boeing. 2005. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Stephen Clark (2012-03-09). "Electric propulsion could launch new commercial trend". Spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
  10. ↑ Svitak, Amy (2014-03-10). "SpaceX Says Falcon 9 To Compete For EELV This Year". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2014-03-11. But the Falcon 9 is not just changing the way launch-vehicle providers do business; its reach has gone further, prompting satellite makers and commercial fleet operators to retool business plans in response to the low-cost rocket. In March 2012, Boeing announced the start of a new line of all-electric telecommunications spacecraft, the 702SP, which are designed to launch in pairs on a Falcon 9 v1.1. Anchor customers Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) of Hong Kong and Mexico's SatMex plan to loft the first two of four such spacecraft on a Falcon 9 in December in a launch window that opens this year, though SatMex owner Eutelsat said last month that the launch has moved to early 2015. Using electric rather than chemical propulsion will mean the satellites take months, rather than weeks, to reach their final orbital destination. But because all-electric spacecraft are about 40% lighter than their conventional counterparts, the cost to launch them is considerably less than that for a chemically propelled satellite.
  11. ↑ "Boeing Stacks Two Satellites to Launch as a Pair" (Press Release). Boeing. 2014-11-12. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "SES Orders SES-15 Satellite in North America" (Press Release). SES. 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Boeing Receives 3-Satellite Contract from Inmarsat" (Press Release). Boeing. 2010-08-06. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  14. ↑ "Inmarsat to purchase fourth Inmarsat-5 satellite from Boeing" (Press Release). Inmarsat. 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 "Intelsat". Boeing. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  16. ↑ "Mexican Satellite System (Mexsat)". Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  17. ↑ "NYBBSat-1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  18. ↑ "Boeing to manufacture SES' SES-9 satellite" (Press Release). SES. 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  19. ↑ de Selding, Peter B. (2015-03-20). "SpaceX Aims To Debut New Version of Falcon 9 this Summer". Space News. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "WGS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  21. ↑ "ViaSat Announces Next Generation Broadband Satellite" (Press Release). ViaSat. 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "XM 1, 2 (XM Rock, Roll)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "XM 3, 4 (XM Rhythm, Blues)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2015-03-10.

External links