Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Saturday, December 19 2020 - 07:32
AsiaNet
OneWeb's Successful Launch, Paves The Way For Commercial Services
LONDON, Dec. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/--

- OneWeb confirms successful launch and contact with all 36 satellites
- The latest deployment brings the in-orbit constellation to 110 satellites 
- OneWeb on track to launch regional commercial service in 2021 and global 
  service in 2022

OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, has 
confirmed the successful launch of all 36 satellites from a Soyuz launch 
vehicle, which began flight from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. This brings the 
total in-orbit constellation to 110 satellites, part of OneWeb's 648 LEO 
satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1087486/OneWeb_Logo.jpg 

Lift-off occurred on 18 December at 12:26 GMT. OneWeb's satellites separated 
from the rocket and were dispensed in nine batches over a period of 3 hours 52 
minutes with signal acquisition on all 36 satellites confirmed.

Less than a month since its acquisition by the UK Government and Bharti Global, 
OneWeb is quickly returning to full operations - hiring at a fast pace, 
restarting launches, continuing to build its ground station network, and 
pushing forward on user terminal development. 

The success of this launch will put OneWeb on track to offer global services to 
customers starting with the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, 
Iceland, the Artic Seas, and Canada in 2021 with global service following in 
2022. 

Neil Masterson, OneWeb CEO commented: "It's inspiring to be part of a 
fast-returning organisation refocused on our mission of bringing connectivity 
to everyone, everywhere. Each launch moves us closer to our goal of building 
this much needed global, secure, trusted, enterprise-grade broadband network, 
powered from space. We look forward to offering our commercial services to 
global users."

UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "With OneWeb's latest satellites taking 
to the skies we come one step closer to connecting people across the globe with 
fast, UK-backed broadband and just months after British government investment 
made this possible.

 The UK can be proud of being at the heart of the latest long-term advances in 
space technology."

"Today's launch is one of many steps we have taken to operationalise one of the 
world's first LEO constellations which clearly demonstrates we are on our way 
to achieving our mission. Overall, there is an overwhelming demand for 
broadband and the pandemic has taxed infrastructure everywhere and many people 
worldwide are left with little to no options to access the internet. OneWeb's 
system will help meet existing and future demand by delivering broadband 
connectivity to communities, towns, and regions left unconnected or 
under-connected." said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti 
Enterprises.

Follow #OneWebLaunch on OneWeb social media channels: 
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzs-1EA5e6MRHXK8NKyqzcw ), 
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/onewebofficial/ ),
Twitter 
(https://twitter.com/OneWeb?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauth
or ), 
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/onewebofficial/ ).

Webcast playback

Launch highlights available:
View on OneWeb YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjQ8KGbssI )

Launch Imagery

https://www.oneweb.world/launch4-mediakit 

Launch Partner

Arianespace and Glavkosmos

Launch Facility

Soyuz Launch Complex, Vostochny Cosmodrome 

About OneWeb

OneWeb is a global communications network powered from space, headquartered in 
London, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It 
is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of 
global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, 
fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the 
IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. Find out more at: 
http://www.oneweb.world 


SOURCE:  OneWeb