The difficult period for Boeing continues, with the company suffering severe problems on several fronts in recent months: in aviation with issues concerning the B737 Max model, in labor relations with a prolonged strike of about 30,000 employees, in finance with a loss of six billion dollars in the third quarter of 2024, and in space, with the failure of the Starliner spacecraft mission, which had to return to Earth, leaving two astronauts on the International Space Station (who were later rescued by a SpaceX Crew Dragon). And now, the latest issue for the U.S. manufacturer has also come from space.
On October 19, 2024, a telecommunications satellite built by Boeing, the Intelsat 33e, exploded while in geostationary orbit. The satellite provided communication services to customers in Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region, but its loss has created another serious problem beyond the service interruption: the explosion has generated debris that could strike other satellites. The number of fragments varies according to different sources: the U.S. Space Force is monitoring about 20, Russia’s Roscosmos has detected around 80, and ExoAnalytics is tracking 57.
The satellite was launched in 2016 and was initially expected to have an operational life of 15 years, later reduced by three and a half years due to propulsion system issues. This was the second unit of Boeing's EpicNG satellite platform. Early information suggests that a power loss was detected before the explosion.
