The news marks the first in a series of launches throughout 2020, that will see OneWeb deploy a total of 648 satellites. Each of these planned satellites forms part of OneWeb’s global broadband network and once live will activate the company’s first customer demos by the end of 2020 before to providing full commercial global services for sectors such as maritime, aviation, government and enterprise by 2021.
The 34 satellites will be aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle with Arianespace carrying out the launch. It will place the satellites into a near polar orbit at an initial altitude of 450km before rising to their final orbit of 1,200km. All 34 have been manufactured by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space.
Earlier this year, OneWeb entered into a new distributor partnership with Pacific Dataport Inc, a supplier of satellite communication systems in Alaska. The collaboration will enable the delivery of OneWeb’s communications services across Alaska and comes in line with the company’s pledge to bring high-speed internet to the Arctic.
