A Soyuz rocket lifted from a cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East and sent 36 OneWeb internet satellites built in Florida into orbit Thursday. Another batch of OneWeb satellites will be launched next month, continuing to build a planned fleet of 648 spacecraft to provide global broadband services.
The 36 satellites were launched at 10:47:33 pm EDT Wednesday (0247: 33 GMT; 11:47:33 local time) from Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s newest spaceport located in the east Amur Oblast near the Chinese border.
A Soyuz-2.1ba rocket was fired off Vostochny’s launch pad with nearly a million pounds of propulsion, turning north to put the OneWeb satellites into orbit over Earth’s poles.
A live video brought back to Earth from the Soyuz rocket showed the four boosters with melting fuel falling off about two minutes after construction, followed by a separation of the rocket’s payload and heart rate. A third-rate engine was lit to power OneWeb satellites at near-orbital speeds, then a Fregat platform that was fired from the top of the rocket to fire a pair of main engines to launch the spacecraft at the right height for use.
Soyuz’s third-rate engine has shut down and shifted. Standing side by side for the first sensing of the Fregat platform to place the OneWeb satellites in starting parking orbit.
A camera on the third stage of Soyuz captured the Fregat split.https: //t.co/dL8f2USZ5B pic.twitter.com/LUrRH10wRG
– Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) March 25, 2021
The OneWeb satellites, each with a mass of about 325 pounds (147.5 kilograms), were separated from a four-Fregat high-end transmitter at one time. Platform control drones fire between each use to ensure proper spacing between the satellites.
The last quarter of a spacecraft launched from the Fregat level nearly four hours into the mission. OneWeb officials confirmed that their control team had established contact with all 36 satellites, which were expected to open solar panels and start a paypoint after launch.
The OneWeb satellites carry Ku-band and Ka-band antennas to connect to customers and ground stations, and usable solar supply shields. The OneWeb satellites will use xenon-fueled ions to lift altitude from their planned 279-mile-high (450-kilometer) orbit to about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) over the next few months , where controllers prepare the spacecraft for service. .
In a press release following their launch, OneWeb said this mission was the second time in “a five-launch program that will enable OneWeb’s connectivity solution to reach all regions north of 50 degrees latitude. by mid-2021. ”
OneWeb said services would begin before the end of the year, enabling the company to “connect millions of customers in the northern hemisphere.
“These services will cover the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Ocean and Canada, and will be rolled out before the end of the year,” the company said. . “OneWeb then plans to provide global services in 2022 ..”
“The next release in the series is scheduled for the end of April, as we continue our drive for a commercial service this year,” said Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb. “OneWeb is rising to the challenge of our mission to connect with everyone, everywhere, at all times. With the support of key stakeholders, we connect the world. ”
OneWeb satellites are built by a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus. The venture-run factory, called OneWeb Satellites, is located at Exploration Park near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This launch was OneWeb’s second mission since it emerged from last year’s breakup. During the bankruptcy proceedings, the UK government and Indian mobile telecom operator Bharti Global bought OneWeb, which is headquartered in London and has satellite operations centers in Britain and Virginia.
The London-based company plans to use an original constellation of 648 satellites, with 588 active spacecraft and 60 spoons. This launch was the fifth of 19 Soyuz dedicated flights for the OneWeb constellation, and the first of the year.
“This latest launch is another boost for OneWeb and their ambitious plans to connect people and businesses around the world to fast and reliable broadband,” said Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary. “Our support for OneWeb puts the UK at the forefront of the latest advances in space technology and demonstrates our commitment to growing Britain’s competitive advantage in this area.”
OneWeb purchased the Soyuz shows from Arianespace, which oversees Soyuz flights from the Guiana Space Center. Through the Starsem subgroup, Arianespace also manages commercial Soyuz launch services from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and from Vostochny.
The launch of 36 more OneWeb satellites came less than 24 hours after SpaceX installed 60 satellites for its Starlink internet network. With the latest missions, OneWeb has now launched 146 satellites, and SpaceX has launched 1,385 Starlink spacecraft into orbit.
SpaceX and OneWeb are competitors in the market to provide broadband internet services from space. Other companies, such as Amazon and Telesat, are developing their own internet constella, but none of them started using an operating spacecraft. So far, SpaceX is the closest to entering commercial service, followed by OneWeb.
The commercial ventures are designed to carry Internet tokens to underserved communities, commercial and arms ships and airplanes, and other remote customers.
SpaceX’s early focus has been on the consumer broadband market, but the U.S. military has tested Starlink’s services. OneWeb’s has focused on selling services to governments and companies.
Using its own fleet of reusable Falcon 9 boots, SpaceX has jumped far ahead of OneWeb in launching satellites. But SpaceX’s StarX network design, which flies closer to Earth, calls for more satellites to provide global service than the OneWeb fleet.
Eventually the Starlink network could accommodate more than 10,000 satellites, but 1,584 satellites in the first phase of Starlinks will travel 341 miles (550 kilometers) above the Earth on 53-degree lanes to the equator. SpaceX plans to launch more satellites into pole orbit later this year to expand Starlink coverage globally.
Starlink already provides interim beta service across high-latitude regions, such as the northern United States, Canada, and England. Earlier this month, SpaceX announced that the Starlink beta service will begin reaching customers in Germany, New Zealand, and other regions of the United Kingdom, including Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
OneWeb said it demonstrated its networking capabilities to representatives from U.S. Space Command on March 2, with additional broadband demonstrations planned in April for the U.S. Special Operations Command and Central U.S. Command.
The demonstration for the weapon earlier this month in Melbourne, Florida, used two land-user ports to deliver data rates of up to 50 megabits per second with a latency rate as low as 32 milliseconds, according to OneWeb .
“OneWeb connects you with fast internet and low latency, whether at sea, in the air, or in the middle of anywhere, providing real coverage by 2022,” said Maurizio Vanotti, senior OneWeb infrastructure development director.
With 146 satellites now in orbit, OneWeb has launched about a quarter of its fleet.
The next 36 OneWeb satellites are expected to launch April 25 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on another Soyuz rocket. That spacecraft will be ready for launch next week from their factory in Florida to the Russian launch center, said Massimiliano Ladovaz, chief technology officer of OneWeb.
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