OneWeb’s 36 broadband satellites (backed by Bharti Airtel) were launched into orbit by a Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia, Russia.
The launch of the satellites will enable commercial Internet services to be provided in parts of the Northern Hemisphere (areas north of the 50th degree latitude) by the end of 2021.
* Countries/regions that include the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Continental US, the Arctic Ocean, and Canada.
*The mission is OneWeb 8, the eighth OneWeb launch from the first satellites to be launched in 2019, and will bring the total number of satellites in OneWeb’s Blooming Internet galaxy to 254.
*The launch marks the completion of OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ mission to orbit satellites needed to operate connectivity services in the Northern Hemisphere and beyond by the end of 2021.
*A web will launch full satellite broadband service in India by May 2022.
Important Points:
*OneWeb aims to launch a total of 648 satellites to provide high-speed internet connectivity to customers around the world (there are expected to be about 12,000 satellites in SpaceX’s Starling Internet galaxy).
*OneWeb resumed satellite launches in December 2020 after emerging from bankruptcy protection with a $ 1 billion equity investment from a consortium of the British government and Bharati Enterprises of India.
*It has also received investment from Japan’s Softbank and Eutelsat Communications. It is now fully funded and has received a total of $ 2.4 billion from investments.