Boeing hoping to bridge the digital divide with a new series of advanced satellites

Boeing is hoping to bridge the digital divide with a new series of advanced satellites being developed in El Segundo.

"The first of a kind, a new generation of satellite technology," said Ryan Reid, president of Boeing Satellite Systems.

Reid and his team are trying to put the finishing touches on the first in a series of state-of-the-art satellites meant to help areas lacking access to high-speed internet.

"When you travel there's a good part of the world that doesn't have the kinds of access to telemedicine, to distance learning... that you and I enjoy every day," Reid said.

Boeing's vision is to create a constellation of 11 satellites that will orbit Earth to create a digital network. The satellites will transmit more than 5,000 beams to connect people across the world.

The beams can be used in war zones like Ukraine, where communication towers have been knocked out, or in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Satellite Service Provider, SES, said mobile antennas like these were able to restore communications after Hurricane Ian. 

"We have this surge capacity," said Ruy Pinto, Chief Technology Officer at SES. "The ability to stand it up quickly for folks who are in need. In this case, due to natural disaster."

USC Professor David Barnhart has no financial ties to Boeing but he says that the satellites will be in an equatorial orbit which lowers the concern for what is known as space junk.

"I don't immediately translate the issue of these 11 satellites as even close to the thousands of smaller satellites being launched into lower orbit, which are traveling to high speeds relative to each other," said Barnhart. 

Reid said that ground crews can change the mission of satellites while they are in orbit.

"Normally satellites you design to do one thing," said Reid. "That's the thing they do for their entire life. These satellites can be changed with ground software."

The first two satellites will launch next month.