Boeing To Unveil New Satellite
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By Michael Mecham
Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems (BSIS) will formally introduce its first new satellite in a decade on July 16, the Boeing 702B, although initial details of the deal that is launching the system were revealed last spring by Intelsat.
Boeing is expected to reveal it has an order for four spacecraft from Intelsat. Intelsat previously said the first 702B will be designated Intelsat 22. At the time, neither it nor Boeing would reveal features of the new spacecraft's design. Intelsat 22 is to carry a UHF payload for the Australian Defense Forces, along with 48 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders for Intelsat's own use.
The new satellite class is expected to draw on the original 702's advances in avionics and other platform systems, but offer customers propulsion and power choices that will make it a smaller version of the original.
The original 702, which is expected to now be designated the 702A, was introduced in 1995 as a successor to the Boeing 601 High Performance platform and first launched in 1999. It has become one of the industry's most powerful telecom platforms, with 18 kW end-of-life power.
The 702B is expected to employ the same flight control and avionics advances as the 702A but let customers choose smaller or less expensive propulsion tanks, solar radiators and other subsystems. One likely choice will be between a conventional liquid fuel propulsion system and the more powerful Xenon ion system that Boeing pioneered on the 702.
BSIS Vice President and General Manager Craig Cooning has previously remarked that the 702 is more satellite than some customers need. He is slated to make the B-model announcement with Intelsat Senior Vice President Ken Lee.
The B-model is expected to be built on a platform that is smaller than the basic 6.5 ton 702A. Cooning has discussed the need to allow customers to use smaller launchers than the Delta IV/Proton/Ariane 5-class boosters the 702A requires.
As such, it will be a more direct successor in size to the original 601 than the 702A, which Boeing developed to satisfy demand for very large telecom platforms.
While 601 sales have been eclipsed by the 702A, it still has some users.
The 601 was the basis for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-O satellite launched June 28.
Artist's concept of Boeing 702 satellite: Boeing
