Boeing files FCC application for 3,000 satellite constellation
The competition heats up: Boeing this week submitted its second application to the FCC for its own 3,000 satellite constellation to provide “a wide range of advanced communications and Internet-based services.”
The second application this week specifically requested permission to launch the first 60 satellites. The whole plan is comparable to the one that SpaceX submitted earlier this week, and puts these two companies in direct competition. If both plans are launched, it will mean that more than 6,000 satellites will need launch services to gain orbit, which also means the launch business could get very busy in the coming years.
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The competition heats up: Boeing this week submitted its second application to the FCC for its own 3,000 satellite constellation to provide “a wide range of advanced communications and Internet-based services.”
The second application this week specifically requested permission to launch the first 60 satellites. The whole plan is comparable to the one that SpaceX submitted earlier this week, and puts these two companies in direct competition. If both plans are launched, it will mean that more than 6,000 satellites will need launch services to gain orbit, which also means the launch business could get very busy in the coming years.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
At the risk of sounding a little skeptical about these multi-thousand satellite constellations…
Yay! More space junk! That ride into space is looking safer and safer.
Space is pretty big.
Eddie–
as well….
“It is Very Cold, in Space.” (Or so they say…)
https://youtu.be/5vwHLMs04XA
Gealon– yeah, it does sound a bit Fantastical. Wish them luck– we shall see what transpires.
Q: How many launches will this require?
(I don’t think the EPA is going to play ball. All these new & improved Regulations, aren’t going to write themselves, are they?)
wayne asked: “Q: How many launches will this require?”
Nice question, and we can do a little math:
The article says that for the first phase, “Three separate constellations would cover the Americas, Africa and Europe, and Asia and Australia” in highly inclined orbits that are about as high as the geostationary orbit (GEO). The map shows that there will be three separate planes, requiring at least three separate launches of 20 satellites on each launch. A Boeing Delta IV can lift 28,000 pounds to a transfer orbit for geostationary satellites (GTO). Thus, for a Delta IV launch (by ULA), each of these satellites can weigh about 1,400 pounds. The article mentions a second set of 20 satellites to be launched in phase 2.
That is a total of 4 launches for the first 80 Boeing satellites.
Boeing plans at least 35 orbital planes in a 1,200 km low Earth orbit (LEO) for the remaining 2,900 or so remaining satellites, which would mean about 83 satellites per orbit. A Boeing Delta IV can lift 62,000 pounds to LEO, but probably less to this higher LEO. Assuming that the Boeing satellites weigh about as much as the SpaceX satellites, 850 pounds, then they can put fewer than 72 into each of these LEOs with each Delta IV launch. Thus, there may need to be two launches per plane (42-ish satellites per launch), for another 70 launches to put all these LEO satellites into orbit.
This comes to at least 74 launches for the Boeing satellite constellation.
SpaceX’s satellites are supposed to be 850 pounds, and a Falcon 9 can lift about 22,800 pounds to LEO. My math shows that a maximum of 26 satellites can go on one Falcon 9. Assuming that they want this many in each orbit, that means a minimum of 171 launches to put their entire fleet of 4,425 satellites on orbit. Since they are orbiting a bit higher than the usual LEO satellite, there may have to be more launches than that. As noted before, it also depends upon how many orbital planes they want to have.
So, at least 74 launches for Boeing and at least 171 launches for SpaceX.
SpaceX wants to do this in a five-year timeframe. Since their satellites are estimated to have 5 to 7 year lifetimes, the continuing pace to replace and update this system will be the same as for the original launches. If we assume that Boeing’s timeframe and lifetimes are similar, then they, too, will need a high launch pace for their satellites.
Consider that for the past half century there have been only around 100 orbital/deep space launches per year worldwide. In order for these two companies to get their satellites into orbit, in addition to the regular number of launches, there would have to be about 15 launches per year for Boeing and about 35 launches per year for SpaceX. These two companies will increase the worldwide launch cadence by about 50%.
When Iridium first launched, they had to do similar math to figure out how to get their 77 satellites on orbit using the three launchers that they had chosen for their 11 orbital planes. As I recall, each plane required two launches of 5 and 2 satellites per launch, depending upon the launcher used, for a total of 22-ish launches. Iridium did not look so daunting as these other two do, but maybe Boeing and SpaceX have learned from Iridium’s launch (and operations) experience.
Edward–
Thanks for those factoids!
>Mr. Z mentioned your calculations on the John Batchelor show for 11-22-16.