OneWeb confirms launch date
January 31, 2020
By Chris Forrester
OneWeb expects to launch its first major batch of 34 satellites on February 7th, weather permitting. Launch time should be 02.42 local time at Baikonur and there will be a live telecast of the launch.
OneWeb says this launch marks the start of a regular launch campaign during 2020 and represents one of the largest civilian satellite launch campaigns in history.
“The satellites will form an integral part of OneWeb’s high-speed global satellite broadband network which will activate OneWeb’s first customer demos by the end of 2020 to provide full commercial global services in 2021,” says the company.
In this first OneWeb launch of 2020, 34 satellites will be aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle. Arianespace will perform the launch, which will place the satellites into a near polar orbit at an initial altitude of 450 kilometers from where they will rise to their final orbit of 1,200 kilometers and form part of OneWeb’s global communications network. All the satellites are manufactured by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space.