OneWeb and SpaceX Successfully Launch 40 LEO Broadband Satellites

British satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK Government, has – for the first time – successfully launched 40 of their compact Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband satellites aboard a Falcon9 rocket from SpaceX at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida (USA).

The company had, until today, launched 462 of their small c.150kg LEO based ultrafast (100Mbps+) and low-latency (sub-100ms) broadband satellites into space – orbiting at an altitude of 1,200km above the Earth – and their initial plan is to build a constellation of 648 (588 for coverage and the rest are redundancy), which is enough for a good level of global coverage. This is due to be completed by the end of 2023.

OneWeb had previously been launching all of their satellites aboard Russia’s Soyuz rockets, but that changed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the start of 2022 (here). Driven by necessity, OneWeb was forced to go on the hunt for alternative launch partners, which resulted in deals being signed with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) and SpaceX. The latter also operates a rival LEO broadband network called Starlink.

The good news is that the company has successfully added another 40 LEOs to their constellation (total of 502) after last night’s successful launch of a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, with signal acquisition on all 40 satellites confirmed.

Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb, said:

“This launch is an immensely gratifying way to close out 2022, bringing OneWeb another step closer to activating our space-based connectivity globally and reflecting the shared ambition and collective goodwill that is driving the satellite communications industry.

We are thankful for the support of other leaders in the space industry allowing us to quickly restart our launch campaign and we are delighted to work with SpaceX today for our first-ever launch from Florida, the home where our satellites are manufactured.

As we look to our final ‘Three to Global Reality’ launches in the first half of 2023, we are thrilled to see our connectivity footprint dramatically expand from today, and to soon activate our network globally to reach remote and under-served areas of the world.”

As above, a further three launches are due to occur early in 2023 to help complete the constellation, although we don’t yet know how many of those will be via SpaceX and how many will come from NSIL. After each launch, it usually takes a few months to bring each batch of LEOs into full commercial operation (i.e. the period used for testing and commissioning).

Going beyond 2023, OneWeb already has approval to launch a further 1,280 satellites, which will be the GEN2 model that could sit in a higher Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of 8,500km – these are widely expected to have more broadband capacity and may introduce enhanced navigation and positioning features.

Both MEOs and LEOs could then be combined to improve network performance and coverage, but this plan still needs to find £3bn of funding (here) and – assuming they can secure that – we don’t expect to see the first actual launches of GEN2 until around 2024-25.