GEO-Mobile Satellite Systems
Boeing is the world's largest manufacturer of geosynchronous commercial communications satellites. In addition to the spin-stabilized Boeing 376, the body-stabilized Boeing 601, the world's most widely purchased commercial communications satellite, and the Boeing 702, the world's most powerful satellite, Boeing also builds satellites to provide GEO-Mobile communications.
In 1997, Hughes Space and Communications Company, now Boeing, received a nearly $1 billion contract for Thuraya, a system consisting of two GEO-Mobile satellites that will serve the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Europe, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is the largest satellite communications project in the region and will serve nearly 1.8 billion people. The first Thuraya satellite was launched in October 2000. Thuraya-2 was launched in June 2003.
In 2006, Boeing received a second major contract from Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) to provide two Boeing 702 satellites, with an option for a third. The satellites will be used to create the world's first commercial wireless world's first commercial wireless communications service, using both space and terrestrial elements. The MSV-1 and MSV-2 satellites will serve Canada; the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands; Mexico; and the Caribbean Basin.
The Boeing GEO-Mobile satellite system features a 12.25-meter deployable antenna, and onboard digital signal processing and beamforming. It is a mobile-communications-supporting satellite system that integrates a Boeing geosynchronous-orbit satellite with a ground segment and a user terminal segment.