OneWeb confirms SpaceX launch success
January 10, 2023
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX wrapped another flawless launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, but with rival OneWeb as the paying customer. The rocket carried 40 OneWeb craft (Launch 16) to their transfer orbits on January 9th.
This extra 40 means that OneWeb now has 542 satellites either in orbit or en route to their designated positions, and within striking distance of their core 600 craft orbital target. OneWeb will launch a total of 648 satellites in this first phase generation deployment in order to cope with orbital redundancies. It has two further launches planned to reach that 600 target.
Neil Masterson, CEO at OneWeb, commented: “Today’s launch is a thrilling way to start 2023 and at OneWeb, this launch brings us even closer to completing our constellation and launching connectivity services around the world. OneWeb believes that connection everywhere changes everything and each of these launches provides us with more capacity to help our partners connect communities, businesses, and governments around the world. I want to thank SpaceX for their continued support, which has now brought about two successful launches. Every launch is a team effort, and we are grateful to everyone who makes these incredible moments possible.”
OneWeb is in the process of being merged with Eutelsat.