OneWeb

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OneWeb Global Limited
WorldVu Satellites Limited

logo
legal form Limited
founding 2012
Seat London , UK
management Greg Wyler ( Executive Chairman )
Adrian Steckel ( CEO )
Branch Satellite communication
Website www.oneweb.world

OneWeb (formerly appearance as WorldVu ) is a communications infrastructure company with headquarters in London and US offices in McLean (Virginia) as well as in Florida and California . The company, founded in 2012 began in 2019 with the establishment of OneWeb - satellite constellation , a network of 588 initially, later possibly up to 1,980 near-Earth mini satellites , the Internet also at remote locations without terrestrial broadband access will provide. The network should gradually go into operation from 2020. The satellites were to be launched with the Soyuz , LauncherOne , Ariane 6 and New Glenn rockets .

In March 2020, OneWeb declared itself insolvent and placed itself under bankruptcy protection in the USA ( Chapter 11 ). It remained unclear to what extent the previous plans can still be realized.

history

OneWeb was founded in 2012 by the American Greg Wyler under the name WorldVu with legal headquarters on the British Channel Island of Jersey . WorldVu has been an intermediate holding company for operational business within the OneWeb Group since 2018 . Wyler had already founded O3b Networks in 2007, the operator of the O3b satellite network.

OneWeb invested over $ 500 million in launch agreements with Virgin Galactic and Arianespace in 2015 . In June 2015, after a tender between US and European manufacturers, OneWeb signed an agreement with Airbus Defense and Space to build its broadband internet satellites; In December 2016 it was announced that the Japanese technology group Softbank had invested US $ 1 billion in the company as part of a financing round. In February 2017, OneWeb announced that due to a joint venture with Gogo Inflight Internet and Intelsat, the entire satellite capacities would be exhausted by the time it was launched, which is why Wyler planned to expand the network by additional satellites in 1972. Merger negotiations with Intelsat were broken off in June 2017.

For series production of the satellites, a separate factory was built in cooperation with Airbus in the “ Exploration Park ” industrial park at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

At the end of 2018, OneWeb decided, for financial reasons, to reduce the planned constellation from 900 to initially 600 satellites. In addition, the company canceled the majority of the start-up contract with Virgin, which led to a legal battle. At the beginning of 2019, the company closed another successful financing round under the leadership of the Japanese technology investor Softbank, in which the Mexican Salinas Group, the American technology group Qualcomm and the government of Rwanda , among others, contributed and invested US $ 1.25 billion in the company invested. Equity financing since inception at the time totaled $ 3.4 billion.

The first satellite entered orbit in May 2019. The first six test satellites were launched in February 2019, and a further 68 in early 2020. However, at the end of March 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy after the company failed to raise the necessary capital to complete the constellation during the Covid-19 pandemic a bridging loan by the also ailing investor Softbank did not come about. The company placed itself under bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy law and stated that it would largely be able to continue operating business until a possible sale.

Satellites

The satellites weigh 174.5 kg each and have a planned lifespan of five years. When launched in February 2020, they should be deployed in a circular orbit at an altitude of 450 km and with an orbit inclination of 87.4 ° and, after functional tests with their xenon ion propulsion, reach the target orbit at an altitude of 1200 km.

Satellite launches

Starts made:

Serial No. Date ( UTC ) rocket Launch site Satellites Satellite no. Remarks
1 February 27, 2019 Soyus ST-B CSG 6th 6-8, 10-12 success
2 February 6, 2020 Soyuz 2-1b Baikonur 34 success
3 March 21, 2020 Soyuz 2-1b Baikonur 34 success

As of March 2020 (before OneWeb's insolvency), the following further starts were planned:

Date ( UTC ) rocket Starting places Number of starts Satellites per launch proof
May 2020 Soyuz 2-1b Vostochny 1 36
2020-2021 Soyuz 2-1b Baikonur ≤ 7 34
2020-2021 Soyuz 2-1b Vostochny ≤ 7 36
2020-2021 Soyuz ST-B CSG ≤ 3 34
4th quarter 2020 Ariane 62 CSG 1 30th
From 2023 Ariane 6 1 CSG 0-2 up to 36 (Ariane 62)
up to 78 (Ariane 64)
Soyuz 0-5 32-36
New Glenn VAFB 0-5 ?
LauncherOne 4th 1-2
1 OneWeb can choose between Ariane 62 and Ariane 64.

Other satellite constellations

Satellite constellations for nationwide broadband internet coverage are also being planned by the US space company SpaceX with Starlink and Amazon with the Kuiper project .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Attachment Question 40 (PDF; 0.1 MB) to the FCC frequency request SAT-AMD-20180104-00004 . WorldVu Satellites Limited, January 4, 2018, as of August 10, 2018, accessed August 12, 2019.
  2. ↑ oneweb Global Limited on companieshouse.gov.uk, accessed on August 12 of 2019.
  3. ↑ Contact us . oneweb.world, accessed August 13, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f OneWeb plans April launch break to tweak satellite design . Spacenews, February 6, 2020.
  5. ↑ OneWeb's Satellites Deliver Real-Time HD Streaming from Space. OneWeb, July 16, 2019, accessed July 18, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Virgin.com: OneWeb Announces Plans to Launch a New Satellite Constellation to Bring High-Speed ​​Internet to Underserved Areas Around the World. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  7. ↑ WorldVu Satellites Limited in the JFSC Company Registry, accessed August 13, 2019.
  8. ↑ WorlVu became a subsidiary of the formerly empty company shell OneWeb Global in January 2018 as part of an internal legal restructuring (see JA 2017 in the UK Companies House (page 4) )
  9. ↑ OneWeb weighing 2,000 more satellites. February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (American English).
  10. ↑ OneWeb says no steam lost despite Intelsat merger unraveling. June 1, 2017, Retrieved February 22, 2019 (American English).
  11. ↑ Peter de Selting: OneWeb Satellites to open factory in Florida with eyes on business beyond OneWeb. In: Spacenews. April 18, 2016, accessed May 12, 2019 .
  12. ↑ OneWeb Satellites has shipped first satellites for the OneWeb constellation to launch site. Airbus, January 22, 2019, accessed May 12, 2019 .
  13. ↑ OneWeb scales back baseline constellation by 300 satellites. In: Spacenews. December 13, 2018, accessed May 3, 2019 .
  14. ^ Brian Berger: Virgin Orbit takes OneWeb to court over canceled launch contract. In: Spacenews. June 6, 2019, accessed August 11, 2018 .
  15. ↑ CNBC: Space startup adds $ 1.25 billion from SoftBank and others to mass produce internet satellites , March 18, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019
  16. ↑ Twitter message from OneWeb, May 3, 2019.
  17. ↑ Peter B. Selding: OneWeb to file for US bankruptcy protection as search for new investors comes up empty . Space Intel Report, March 27, 2020.
  18. ↑ Financial Times: OneWeb collapses after SoftBank funding talks fall through , March 28, 2020, accessed on March 31 (English, paywall)
  19. ↑ OneWeb: OneWeb Files for Chapter 11 Restructuring to Execute Sale Process , company press release, March 27, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020
  20. ↑ Stephen Clark: First satellites off OneWeb's new Florida assembly line set for launch this week - Spaceflight Now. Retrieved February 5, 2020 (American English).
  21. ↑ OneWeb 1, ..., 900. In: skyrocket.de. February 28, 2019, accessed March 1, 2019 .
  22. ↑ a b Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now, accessed February 12, 2020 .
  23. ↑ a b La constellation OneWeb prête à offrir Internet partout sur la planète in 2021 . Les Échos , September 12, 2019 (French).
  24. ↑ a b Два запуска спутников OneWeb на "Союзах" перенесли с Байконура на Восточный. In: RIA Novosti. April 9, 2019, Retrieved April 9, 2019 (Russian).
  25. ↑ a b c d Blue Origin signs OneWeb as second customer for New Glenn reusable rocket. In: Spacenews. August 3, 2017, accessed March 1, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Россия планирует в 2020 году выполнить 12 пусков ракет "Союз" со спутниками OneWeb. TASS, August 28, 2019, accessed August 28, 2018 (Russian).
  27. ↑ Arianespace successfully performs the first of 21 launches for the OneWeb constellation. February 27, 2019, accessed March 1, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Два запуска спутников OneWeb на "Союзах" перенесли с Байконура на Восточный. In: RIA Novosti. April 9, 2019, Retrieved April 9, 2019 (Russian).
  29. ↑ Caleb Henry: EU reserves four Ariane 6 rockets for Galileo navigation satellites. In: Spacenews. January 23, 2020, accessed January 26, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Satellite 2019: Ariane 6 and Vega C are coming! Arianespace places its operational excellence and commercial performance at the service of clients. Arianespace, May 6, 2019; accessed May 5, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Ariane 6 maiden flight will deploy satellites of the OneWeb constellation; OneWeb also books options with Arianespace for two more Ariane 6 launches. Arianespace, March 19, 2019, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  32. ↑ OneWeb poised to begin deployment of broadband 'mega-constellation'. In: Spaceflight Now. February 27, 2019, accessed April 9, 2019 .
  33. ↑ The OneWeb orbits have an incline of 87.9º, which is not possible from the first New Glenn launch site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . A second launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base is being planned.
  34. ↑ Caleb Henry: Blue Origin signs OneWeb as a second customer for New Glenn reusable rocket. In: spacenews.com. March 8, 2017, accessed March 1, 2019 .
  35. ^ Brian Berger: Virgin Orbit takes OneWeb to court over canceled launch contract. In: Spacenews. June 6, 2019, accessed June 8, 2019 .