SpaceX, OneWeb and Amazon are not the only players in the global satellite internet race. The legendary aerospace company Boeing has an ambitious project underway to develop its own constellation of satellites and offer connectivity to any corner of the planet .
Satellite internet services are ideal in areas where mobile coverage or fiber connection is poor or non-existent. SpaceX has played an elementary role in democratizing this type of alternative by providing a proposal with decent quality and a price that is far from being exorbitant, although it is still high.
Is that satellite internet used to be limited to a few. Not only because of the offer of the service, but also because of the costs. But advances in technology such as the entry of new players, such as Boeing in this case, end up benefiting users.
Boeing wants its satellite internet constellation to be able to provide connectivity to every corner of the planet. However, it is not something that can be achieved overnight, not even being one of the largest aerospace companies in the world with vast experience in the sector.
Like its competitors, Boeing must be scrutinized by federal authorities in the United States and in all countries where it wants its service to operate . It must also carry out a series of launches to gradually put the satellites into orbit and thus shape its constellation.
Boeing's phased plan
Illustrative image | Intelsat Communications Satellite | Credit: Boeing In principle, the US company plans to launch 132 satellites that will be located in a low earth orbit (LEO, for its acronym in English), at an altitude of 1,056 kilometers. Another 15 will be located in a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) at an altitude between 27,355 and 44,221 km.
The 147 satellites will transmit in V-band. This is a higher frequency than the Ka and Ku bands used by SpaceX or Amazon's future Kuiper satellites. It has faster transfer speeds, but it tends to be more affected by interference because it cannot pass through solid objects well.
Boeing plans to offer satellite internet services initially in the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands . The company believes that it will be able to achieve global coverage when the 147 satellite system is complete in orbit and operational.
For “global coverage”, three groups of satellites will be used in the “shape of 8” that will provide service to specific areas of the planet. This will be made possible by overlapping “honeycomb” radio cells. One group will cover America, another Europe and Africa, and another Asia and Oceania.
Credit: FCC Boeing's plans may seem miniscule compared to those of SpaceX that speak of more than 40,000 Starlink satellites and already have 1,646 operating in orbit. However, the Chicago company could fold its small constellation to a larger one of 2,956 satellites planned in two phases in the future.
For now, Boeing has received authorization from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move forward with the constellation of 147 satellites. You now have six years to launch half of them and nine years to deploy all of them .
Regarding the price and availability of the service, there is no data on this yet. Nor is it necessary to make forecasts, since the launches must first go smoothly. Then the satellites must reach their operational orbit. At a later stage, Boeing should initiate the testing phase.
The truth is that Boeing has been manufacturing satellites for public and private customers for more than two decades. In the past, before OneWeb or SpaceX, it tried to provide service through a constellation of satellites with Teledesic, a project that ultimately never got off the ground. Now, after four years of waiting, he has a green light from the FCC to start engines again.
