OneWeb launches satellites challenging SpaceX’s Starlink
SpaceX and Britain's OneWeb, owners of two of the largest commercial satellite fleets, added more satellites to their internet networks Wednesday with launches from Cape Canaveral and Russia.
Satellite Internet networks are expanding but OneWeb is (for now) lagging behind its rival Starlink.
On March 24, Russia started, with a Soyouz carrier taken off from Vostotchny, the putting into orbit of 36 satellites of the British operator Oneweb for a constellation that provides high-speed internet around the world. This was announced by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
But OneWeb is not the only project underway for the global internet.
On the same day, SpaceX (Elon Musk's aerospace company) also added even more satellites to its Starlink constellation in orbit. Successful delivery of 60 Falcon 9 rocket spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
There are now more than 1,300 Starlink satellites in orbit.
The Oneweb company, owned by the British government with the Indian company Bharti, expects a global internet to be operational at the end of 2022 thanks to 650 satellites in orbit. Yet the UK is looking to US rival SpaceX for "Project Gigabit".
In fact, Starlink could become part of the Johnson government's $ 6.9 billion Internet plan to provide Internet to rural areas.
All the details.
THE LAUNCH OF SOYUZ FOR ONEWEB
Yesterday, a Soyuz rocket launched 36 new satellites into orbit for OneWeb, expanding the company's growing constellation of high-speed Internet. The French commercial launch company Arianespace manages the mission.
THE SATELLITES IN ORBIT SO FAR
The previous launch, also of 36 units, took place in December.
Yesterday's launch – called Flight ST30 – marks the fifth Arianespace flight on behalf of OneWeb. With the launch of 36 new constellation spacecraft, Flight ST30 will bring the OneWeb fleet up to a total of 146 satellites, according to a statement from Arianespace.
THE COMPLETION OF THE ONEWEB CONSTELLATION
According to the contract with Arianespace, 16 launches with Soyouz are planned between December 2020 and the end of 2022 to complete the Oneweb network.
AFTER THE RISK OF BANKRUPTCY
Flight ST30 is OneWeb's second launch since the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2020. But last summer, the UK government and Indian telecom company Bharti Global took over OneWeb. Since then, the company has drastically reduced the number of satellites it plans to include in the next-generation constellation.
With yesterday's launch, OneWeb advances in the completion of an initial “Phase One” constellation system of 648 satellites.
AT WHAT POINT IS STARLINK COMPARED TO ONEWEB
Also yesterday , SpaceX also added even more Starlink satellites to its existing constellation in orbit, with a successful delivery of 60 spacecraft.
This is Starlink's fourth launch in less than a month, with previous batches of 60 sent on March 14, March 11 and March 4, respectively.
According to Musk's plans, Starlink is expected to grow to include around 10,000 or more active satellites in low Earth orbit, but the short-term goal is to continue expanding the geographic coverage of its broadband internet service to other countries. and customers.
SpaceX expects to reach 1,500 units in this first phase of launch and has already received authorization to launch at least 12,000 satellites. The company has announced that some tests are underway on Starlink's internet service in the northern United States, southern Canada and some areas of the United Kingdom, and that the first online bookings of the service have been activated, but that they will still need at least six months before it can start working.
NOT ONLY ONEWEB, THE UNITED KINGDOM AIMS AT STARLINK FOR THE GIGABIT PROJECT
Precisely in the UK, where the Johnson government has invested 500 million pounds to hold an approximately 45% stake in OneWeb, Starlink enters the scene.
On Friday the government launched the first phase of the “Project Gigabit” . The project plans to deliver faster internet to more than 1 million homes and businesses in remote areas of the UK.
And the Johnson government is in talks with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
As Business Insider pointed out, if Starlink and the UK reach an agreement on the Gigabit Project, Elon Musk's space company could benefit from government funding to accelerate its coverage in the country. In the United States, Starlink won nearly $ 900 million from the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December for implementing internet connectivity in underserved American communities.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/oneweb-lancia-satelliti-sfidando-starlink-di-spacex/ on Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:06:27 +0000.