OneWeb to Launch Broadband LEO Satellites via SpaceX Rockets

British-registered space company OneWeb has today announced a new agreement to “resume” launches of their ultrafast low-latency broadband satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by harnessing rockets (e.g. the Falcon9) from SpaceX, which is the owner and operator of arch rival Starlink. The first launch is expected this year.

In case anybody has forgotten (fairly unlikely). At the end of last month, Russia invaded Ukraine and set off a chain of events that continues to unfold. The fallout from that (i.e. heavy sanctions and restrictions against Putin’s regime) caught OneWeb (here), which up until recently had been busy launching many of their LEO platforms into space aboard Russia’s Soyuz rockets.

OneWeb has already launched a total of 428 small c.150kg Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites into space – orbiting at an altitude of around 1,200km – and their initial plan is to build a constellation of 648 (588 are needed for coverage – the rest are for redundancy), which is enough for a reasonable level of global coverage by around June 2022. At least, that was the original expectation.

Initially the UK Government, which holds a key £400m stake in OneWeb after helping to rescue it from bankruptcy in 2020 (alongside a consortium of investors), was pressured by some MPs to scrap future launches as part of the response to Russia’s invasion. But Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, moved first by making demands that could not be met (e.g. a legal guarantee that the LEOs would not be used for military purposes and for the UK gov to withdraw its shareholding).

Shortly after that, the Board of OneWeb “voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur” – covering all of their 6 remaining launches. But this left OneWeb with a big problem, not least of which is that Russian-owned entities have already been pre-paid for the remaining launches, and finding availability via alternative rockets is not a simple matter – there’s a long lead-time and rockets have to be specially adapted, which is expensive and takes time.

SpaceX to the Rescue

One of the quickest ways for OneWeb to reach orbit would be to hitch a ride aboard SpaceX, which also happens to run the Starlink service – a rival mega constellation of LEO broadband satellites. The competitive dynamics made it difficult to know whether OneWeb would opt to take this route, but needs must.

OneWeb CEO, Neil Masterson, said:

“We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space. With these launch plans in place, we’re on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe.”

The first launch with SpaceX is anticipated sometime in 2022, although the terms of this agreement are confidential. OneWeb’s commercial service will initially serve parts of the UK, Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic seas (i.e. the 50th parallel and above) – albeit focused more on government, maritime, aviation and enterprise.

Community mobile (backhaul) and broadband connectivity for rural homes is anticipated to come later, most likely via partner ISPs like BT (here) and Eutelsat (KONNECT), although we’ve yet to see any solid details on that.