Boeing's V-band technology demonstration mission, hosted aboard a Spaceflight Sherpa-LTC, launched as a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September 2022.
Less than two years after winning Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to operate a 147-member satellite constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO), Boeing quietly relinquished its license and paid a $2.2 million forfeiture fee.
“We arrived at strategic business decisions regarding our spectrum allocation,” Michelle Parker, vice president, Boeing Space Mission Systems, wrote in a statement emailed to Aerospace DAILY. “We informed the FCC of our decision last month and paid the associated license liability that had accrued.”
“Boeing is committed to responsible spectrum allocation and space usage. As part of this commitment, we followed all regulatory requirements as we arrived at strategic business decisions regarding our spectrum allocation,” she added.
Boeing was among dozens of companies that have petitioned the FCC and won spectrum allocations to operate megaconstellations in so-called non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO), the largest of which is SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet network.
In November 2021, the FCC granted Boeing a license to operate a 147-member V-band constellation. Boeing immediately requested permission to expand the network to more than 5,000 satellites.
The company launched a technology demonstrator known as Varuna in September 2022 that flew as a rideshare payload aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink mission. “Our V-band test mission provided valuable data and learning,” Parker told Aerospace DAILY. “We are confident that V-band will someday be commercialized as global demand for satellite broadband connectivity continues to increase.”
“For now, we are not immediately pursuing a V-band constellation,” she added. “Boeing continually evaluates its spectrum usage to align with business objectives and industry regulations. We’re prioritizing more immediate growth steps at this time.”
In a 2021 interview, Ryan Reid, president of Boeing Commercial Satellite Systems, told Aerospace DAILY that Boeing was in discussions with potential partners for a NGSO constellation. “We don’t directly compete with Starlink, for example, but our customers would. Where we come at it is understanding the problem they need to solve for their market and making sure we have the technologies to support it.”
Prior to launch of its Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission, Boeing said the flight was intended to provide prospective V-band constellation users “an opportunity to evaluate the performance of V-band communications links and ascertain their attributes and acceptability for specific applications.”
Hosted aboard a Spaceflight Sherpa-LTC transfer vehicle, the Varuna tech demo was deployed into a near-circular orbit about 192 mi. above Earth and inclined 53.2 deg. relative to the equator.
In its original application, Boeing had asked the FCC to waive a requirement that operators must deploy 50% of their constellations within six years of receiving their licenses, a rule intended to prevent spectrum squatting. Boeing had requested permission to launch five satellites in highly inclined orbits within six years and the rest of the constellation within 12 years. The FCC denied the request, leaving Boeing responsible for launching half its constellation by November 2027.
The FCC officially rescinded Boeing’s license on Oct. 12.
