While critics had pointed out that the rush of orders for “all electric” satellites that had been predicted had not really materialised as predicted, Jim Simpson, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc., countered at the Satellite 2014 conference, by noting that three satellites using Boeing’s all-electric BSS 702SP bus had actually been ordered in early 2013. He noted that they had been for a US Government customer but did not disclose the exact agency involved. It is assumed that the satellites, which use all-electric thrusters from propulsion, will be used for communications use.
The spacecraft are based on the Boeing 702SP platform, a smaller version of Boeing’s 702 satellite bus used by commercial and military operators to deliver high-power communications services around the world.
