OneWeb has announced the successful completion of launch of 34 new satellites, aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, as it works towards the introduction of its global low Earth orbit (LEO) connectivity network.
Lift-off occurred on February 6th at 21:42 pm UTC, with the satellites separating from the rocket as planned and dispensed in nine batches over a period of several hours.
This marks the second successful launch for the company, following an initial launch of six satellites in February 2019, for testing and evaluation of the newly constructed spacecraft. OneWeb’s complete phase one constellation is expected to total 648 satellites, which the company says is scheduled to provide global coverage to customers in 2021, starting with its first commercial services in the Arctic later this year.
“The successful manufacture, delivery and launch of this batch of 34 satellites is the latest proof point of the OneWeb plan. Importantly, today’s mission also brings us closer to our next step, realising our ultimate vision of providing access to high speed, reliable internet to everyone, everywhere,” said Adrian Steckel, CEO of OneWeb.
“We are seeing considerable interest from prospective customers and partners. Later this year, we will provide service in the Arctic region and 2021 will see OneWeb achieve global coverage, making the digital divide a thing of the past. I’m very proud of our team and partners who continue to collaborate to make our ambitious scale a reality, and also those in Kazakhstan for supporting our vision.”
