OneWeb Confirms Launch of Its Satellites from Baikonur

The international provider of the satellite communications OneWeb has confirmed its successful deployment of 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

This is the 12th by the company overall and 9th since December 2020. As a result, OneWeb now has in-orbit constellation of 394 satellites. This represents over 60% of the company’s planned 648 low Earth orbit satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. As a result, OneWeb now has 394 satellites in low Earth orbit. The company is going to run a network of 648 satellites in total.

The lift-off of the latest launch occurred on December 27 at 7:10pm, Nur-Sultan time. OneWeb’s satellites separated from the rocket and were dispensed in nine batches over a period of 3 hours 45 minutes with signal acquisition on all 36 satellites confirmed. 

OneWeb is aimed at the creation of a global network of satellites on low Earth orbit to provide its clients with high-speed access to the Internet as well as data transmitting with a speed of 5–50 Mbit/s.

Earlier this year, the head of the Center for the Operation of Ground-based Space Infrastructure Facilities, Ruslan Mukhamedzhanov, said that they are going to make 12 launches of Soyuz-2 rocket from the launch pad no. 31 in Baikonur.

«We are going to make 12 launches. These are federal [Russian] and commercial launches for OneWeb,» he said back then.