Aerospace giant Boeing has forged a hosted payload division to offer government and other customers extra capacity on the spacecraft it builds for commercial operators.
Called Boeing Commercial Satellite Services, the unit is responding to growing demand…
Aerospace giant Boeing has forged a hosted payload division to offer government and other customers extra capacity on the spacecraft it builds for commercial operators.
Called Boeing Commercial Satellite Services, the unit is responding to growing demand for communications bandwidth and a decline in US military spending.
According to the group, its hosted payloads can be designed to suit a customer’s specific needs, and can be a more affordable and timely solution than procuring a complete satellite.
“The market response to hosted payloads as a creative solution to limited military bandwidth availability has been extremely positive, and we believe that the Boeing Commercial Satellite Services unit will perform a valuable service both for the military and for commercial users of satellite services to meet mission needs,” said Craig Cooning, CEO of satellite division Boeing Satellite Systems International.
Boeing has received orders for five hosted payloads in the past 18 months, but until now this part of its business had been sporadic.
Pointing to an agreement with operator Inmarsat last August to assist the group in leasing Ka-band services on three Boeing 702HP spacecraft, Cooning said: “This business model can be applied to a commercial satellite operator interested in leasing service to governments.” In another example, when Boeing signed a four-satellite contract with operator Intelsat in July 2009, it arranged for two of these satellites to incorporate hosted payloads in the UHF band. Boeing is also pursuing opportunities to expand hosted payload options to cover other types of communications capacity.
In a conference call coinciding with the announcement on 22 February, Cooning revealed that a decline in government spending had prompted the group to take a new look at the commercial satellite market.
Commercial work now counts for 18% of revenues at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, which includes the satellite division, compared with about 8% a few years ago, said Cooning.
“The fact that we’re able to partner with people we make satellites for is good for business,” he added.
The start-up organization will initially be headquartered in California with around 20 staff, and there are no plans to increase its size to more than 40 people.
Although it will initially market services to the US Department of Defense, the company expects to expand its reach over time.
