OneWeb to Restart Broadband Satellite Launches in October

Satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK Government, has announced that 36 of their Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband satellites have just arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, ahead of an expected launch to space next month.

The operator has already launched 428 of their small c.150kg LEO based ultrafast (100Mbps+) and low-latency (sub-100ms) broadband 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. This is due to complete by the end of 2023.

However, readers may recall that a lot of their prior launches took place in Russia, which ended after the invasion of Ukraine set off a chain of events that continues to unfold (here). The operator ended up taking a £200m hit after Russia blocked the launch of 36 satellites and impounded them (here), which left OneWeb with the unenviable task of needing to find new launch partners.

The good news is that they were able to find solutions with both rival SpaceX (here) and New Space India Limited (NSIL) – here, which is the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). After a lot of work, the next batch of OneWeb’s GEN1 LEO spacecraft has now been shipped to India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC – SHAR) in Sriharikota, ready for launch.

Neil Masterson, OneWeb CEO, said:

“OneWeb’s dedication to industry collaboration has allowed us to successfully navigate the everchanging global environment and prepare for yet another milestone launch. We are proud of our ability to adapt and remain on track to deliver global connectivity in the hardest to reach places. With many thanks to our top-of-the line partners ISRO and NSIL, as well as our shareholder Bharti Global for their continued stewardship, we were able to facilitate this upcoming pioneering launch in Sriharikota India.”

Radhakrishnan D, Chairman-cum-MD, NewSpace India Limited, added:

“Undertaking the launch of 36 OneWeb satellites on-board GSLV-MkIII from India is a historic moment for NSIL and ISRO. We are excited to see the arrival of the satellites and the Ground Support Equipment in India in preparation for the launch. Teams at NSIL/ ISRO are sincerely working towards providing the best of the Launch Service solutions and support for OneWeb satellites, and we wish their teams great success in their forthcoming activities at SDSC-SHAR and launch.”

The launch will be the company’s 14th overall, and the satellites will be put into orbit by the heaviest ISRO rocket, the GSLV-MkIII (pictured – top). One additional launch will then take place this year, and three more are targeted for early next year to complete the constellation.

The announcement doesn’t say when OneWeb’s launch will take place, although publicly available data on launch schedules suggests that the related “OneWeb 1A” mission – with an estimated launch cost of between $46m to $62m – is projected to take place by the end of October 2022.