{"id":12665,"date":"2020-02-07T19:59:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T11:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/successful-soyuz-launch-deploys-34-satellites-for-oneweb-network\/"},"modified":"2020-02-07T19:59:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T11:59:23","slug":"successful-soyuz-launch-deploys-34-satellites-for-oneweb-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/successful-soyuz-launch-deploys-34-satellites-for-oneweb-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Successful Soyuz launch deploys 34 satellites for OneWeb network"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: <\/strong>Updated with confirmation of acquisition of signal from all 34 satellites.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 34 OneWeb broadband satellites on-board. Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan \u2014 A Russian Soyuz launcher fired into orbit from the remote steppe of Kazakhstan Thursday with 34 satellites built on Florida\u2019s Space Coast, commencing a sequence of launches to deploy a network of nearly 650 spacecraft for a global broadband network owned by OneWeb.<\/p>\n

The launch Thursday was the first of up to 10 OneWeb missions this year, each carrying from 32 to 36 OneWeb satellites into orbit from spaceports in Kazakhstan, Russia and French Guiana. By next year, when OneWeb aims to have at least 648 satellites in orbit, the company plans to begin providing global Internet service.<\/p>\n

Limited service could begin before the end of this year, according to OneWeb.<\/p>\n

The 15-story Soyuz-2.1b rocket climbed away from the Site 31 launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2142:41 GMT (4:42:41 p.m. EST) Thursday and shot through an overcast cloud layer in the predawn skies over Kazakhstan, where liftoff occurred at 2:42 a.m. local time Friday.<\/p>\n

Kerosene-fueled engines generated more than 900,000 pounds of thrust to power the Soyuz launcher off the launch pad. Within two minutes, four liquid-fueled first stage boosters shut down and jettisoned, and the Soyuz core stage switched off and separated nearly five minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

Moments after the third stage engine ignited, the Soyuz shed its clamshell-like aerodynamic payload shroud. The third stage deployed a Fregat upper stage on a preliminary suborbital trajectory more nine minutes into the mission, completing the role of the Soyuz rocket for the mission.<\/p>\n

The main engine of the Fregat upper stage ignited two times to place the 34 OneWeb satellites into a targeted polar orbit roughly 280 miles (450 kilometers) above Earth, with an inclination of 87.4 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n

Then began a series of deployments to release the 34 OneWeb satellites from a composite dispenser, or connecting interface, made by RUAG Space in Sweden.<\/p>\n

First, two of the 325-pound (147.5-kilogram) satellites separated from the top of the cluster. The remaining 32 spacecraft separated in groups of four at intervals of approximately 20 minutes, with maneuvers by the Fregat\u2019s smaller attitude control thrusters in between to ensure the satellites did not collide.<\/p>\n

The satellite separation events largely occurred when the Fregat was outside the range of ground tracking stations. Officials from OneWeb and Arianespace \u2014 which arranged Thursday\u2019s launch under contract to OneWeb \u2014 updated the status of the deployment sequence as they received data from the Fregat upper stage.<\/p>\n

The last group of OneWeb satellites flew off the Fregat\u2019s dispenser around 3 hours, 45 minutes into the mission. About an hour later, officials received telemetry data confirming the deployment of all 34 satellites.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This image from an animation produced by Arianespace illustrates the process of deploying the OneWeb satellites from the Fregat upper stage\u2019s dispenser. Credit: Arianespace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later Friday, ground teams at OneWeb\u2019s satellite operations center received signals from all 34 satellites after several passes over ground stations.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft were manufactured on assembly lines at a new factory operated by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defense and Space, near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very significant launch for us, and I think this launch and really the next launch are critical because it will show the success that we\u2019ve had with OneWeb Satellites, the joint venture between us and Airbus, and getting the assembly line approach actually working,\u201d said Adrian Steckel, CEO of London-based OneWeb. \u201cI think the 34 satellites that are on this one are a demonstration that after many months of work, we can get up to that rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real proof will be when we have 34 satellites for Launch No. 3 ready by Feb. 17 or so and shipping out to Baikonur. We\u2019re very happy about that,\u201d Steckel said.<\/p>\n

The OneWeb satellites, each designed for a minimum of five years of commercial operations, will extend their power-generating solar panels and activate their xenon plasma propulsion systems to begin post-launch checkouts. Each satellite will use its xenon thruster to reach an operational orbit at an altitude of 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) in about five months, where the OneWeb network will spread an initial block of 648 satellites among multiple orbital planes.<\/p>\n

OneWeb scaled back the size of its first-generation satellite network in 2018 after finding that the first spacecraft built for the constellation performed better than expected.<\/p>\n

But OneWeb has ambitions to grow its broadband fleet to 1,980 satellites to meet higher demand.<\/p>\n

Founded by Greg Wyler, a satellite and telecom entrepreneur, OneWeb announced last year that it demonstrated live HD video streaming through the company\u2019s first six satellites launched in February 2019. OneWeb and Iridium, which operates a low Earth orbit network with 66 cross-linked L-band communications and data relay satellites, announced an agreement in September to work toward a combined service offering.<\/p>\n

\"\"
OneWeb\u2019s satellites will be spread among multiple orbital planes. Credit: OneWeb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OneWeb is in heated competition in the low-latency satellite broadband market with SpaceX, which has launched 240 Starlink Internet satellites on four dedicated Falcon 9 rocket flights since last May. More than 20 additional Falcon 9 launches \u2014 each with around 60 Starlink payloads \u2014 could take off before the end of 2020, aside from SpaceX\u2019s launches for other customers.<\/p>\n

SpaceX, which builds its satellites in Redmond, Washington, plans to initially launch up to 1,600 satellites on a series of Falcon 9 rockets to fly in 341-mile-high (550-kilometer) orbits. The company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has approval from the Federal Communications Commission to eventually operate up to 12,000 Starlink broadband satellites.<\/p>\n

Documents filed with the International Telecommunication Union last year suggested SpaceX could seek regulatory authority for up to 30,000 additional spacecraft, bringing the Starlink network to some 42,000 satellites.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur satellites are at 1,200 kilometers, there\u2019s are at 550,\u201d Steckel said in a pre-launch media briefing in Kazakhstan. \u201cThat\u2019s just geometry. Our satellites have a bigger field-of-view. Their system doesn\u2019t give them global coverage, even though they have a lot more satellites, because they\u2019re lower and they do not have inter-satellite links (yet).<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because ours are higher and we have big ground stations, we\u2019re able to sort of reach over the horizon and guarantee that coverage of the oceans and have global coverage,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cWe have (regulatory) filings for thousands of satellites\u2026 and they have for tens of thousands of satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like OneWeb, SpaceX says it could start serving high-latitude regions the Starlink broadband coverage this year, followed by the inauguration of global service.<\/p>\n

SpaceX can launch Starlink satellites on the company\u2019s own Falcon 9 rockets, and the company is using the Starlink program to fill its launch manifest as other sectors of the satellite industry have experienced a downturn.<\/p>\n

OneWeb has taken a more traditional satellite development approach with an international supply chain. Gingiss said about half of the parts on each spacecraft come from North America, and the other half come from Europe.<\/p>\n

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also investing in the planned Kuiper broadband network that could also number thousands of satellites.<\/p>\n

While Starlink and Kuiper are primarily backed by billionaires, OneWeb\u2019s investors include the Japanese company SoftBank, Airbus, Qualcomm and Grupo Salinas. Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Group is also a OneWeb financial backer.<\/p>\n

OneWeb said last March that it had raised $3.4 billion to date to pay for the construction of the network, which is scheduled to begin providing Internet service over the Arctic before the end of 2020, thanks to ground stations already operational in Alaska and Norway.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Adrian Steckel, CEO of OneWeb. Credit: Arianespace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OneWeb Satellites is producing more than 600 additional satellites for OneWeb on two assembly lines at the company\u2019s Florida factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the first built at our high-capacity assembly lines in Florida,\u201d said Tony Gingiss, CEO of OneWeb Satellites. \u201cWe\u2019ve been ramping that factory up over the last six to nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already midway through the second batch to deliver at the middle of this month, and that is really demonstrating that we can hit roughly 34 satellites a month to deliver to keep the launch cadence that OneWeb wants,\u201d Gingiss said.<\/p>\n

Steckel said that there\u2019s room in the global commercial market for both SpaceX and OneWeb because the companies are taking different approaches to their low-latency broadband networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be competitive,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cWe have a different approach. We\u2019re going to get landing rights (and market access) in places that Starlink won\u2019t. We think there\u2019s 40 percent of the land mass in the world where they won\u2019t and we will. That has to do with our architecture. It also has to do with our approach to doing business. It also has to do with our flag. We\u2019re a UK company. That gives us the ability to try to build a bridge \u2026 We have shareholders and support from institutions all around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also attacking a different part of the marketplace,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to try to compete against the Comcasts or the Oranges of the world. Over time, what you\u2019ll find is our technologies and their technologies are pretty much the same thing. But the fact that you\u2019re using the same technology doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re executing the same business model. It\u2019s the difference between being a consumer play or an enterprise play.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Steckel, OneWeb\u2019s network will be more attractive to countries like China and Russia. He said OneWeb\u2019s satellites will relay broadband signals through powerful ground stations, or gateways. The company intends to develop or use around 40 to 45 gateways distributed around the globe.<\/p>\n

OneWeb and the government of Kazakhstan have announced plans to put a gateway in Kazakhstan to create a broadband data hub for Central Asia. Steckel said that partnership could be a model for OneWeb\u2019s entry into other markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that sitting back in our office, me and our team will be able to properly manage a global system, and know what does the client want in Madagascar, versus South Africa, versus Brazil, versus Wales, Scotland, or Switzerland,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cYou need people locally to implement, and to design the products and sell the product. That goes with the notion of having partners with aligned economics and aligned interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s Starlink network will eventually use laser data links between satellites, enabling the network to route signals around the world without going through ground stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpaceX has gone out of their way to emphasize that they were going to have inter-satellite links, and that they will have inter-satellite links,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cThat is fundamental to the structure of their system, and that is not something that\u2019s acceptable to governments who want to make sure that they have the ability to exercise sovereignty over the Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different business plan,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing in what I\u2019m saying is a criticism of them. They could be highly successful. We\u2019re playing a different ball game, but we\u2019re both using similar technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Artist\u2019s illustration of a OneWeb satellite. The core structure measures about a meter, or 3 feet, on each side. Credit: OneWeb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Large constellations of satellites like those being deployed by OneWeb and SpaceX have raised concerns about space junk and their interference with ground-based astronomy.<\/p>\n

Every OneWeb satellite, including those launched Thursday, has a grapple fixture to allow other spacecraft link up in orbit and bring them back into Earth\u2019s atmosphere to burn up on re-entry.<\/p>\n

But that measure would only be used in a worst-case scenario. OneWeb plans to deorbit its satellites after their useful lives are over, using the spacecraft\u2019s plasma propulsion system to lower altitude and re-enter the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites are brighter than designers predicted, and they are particularly visible soon after each launch, when the spacecraft are at lower altitudes and relatively close together.<\/p>\n

SpaceX launched a Starlink satellite with an experimental dark coating in January to see if the change makes the craft less reflective of sunlight. But results from the experiment will not be known until the satellites reaches its operational orbit in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do the most we can to mitigate (astronomers\u2019 concerns),\u201d Steckel said. \u201cWe\u2019re not visible to the naked eye. We are visible to telescopes. It\u2019s hard to get around some of those facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists have also questioned whether constellations of thousands of satellites broadcasting broadband data will interfere with radio astronomy, which uses giant antennas to listen to faint radio signals generated from distant stars and galaxies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith respect to radio frequency \u2026 we\u2019ll try,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do the most we can. I don\u2019t know if there will be a solution that will make everybody happy. At least we\u2019re in dialog, and we\u2019re trying to get feedback on what can we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

OneWeb\u2019s next launch is scheduled for around March 18 on another Soyuz rocket, assuming the factory team in Florida remains on track in assembling and testing the 34 satellites for shipment to Baikonur later this month.<\/p>\n

Soyuz launches with more OneWeb satellites later this spring and summer will originate from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in far eastern Russia, near the border with China. There are also more launches for OneWeb planned from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana.<\/p>\n

OneWeb inked a launch contract in 2015 for 21 launches with Arianespace, the French launch services provider which oversees commercial Soyuz missions. Arianespace\u2019s subsidiary, Starsem, arranges preparations for the Soyuz missions launching from Baikonur and Vostochny, while Arianespace itself manages Soyuz launches from French Guiana.<\/p>\n

Steckel said OneWeb needs around 16 more launches to fill out the company\u2019s network of 588 operational satellites. The company may eventually add at least 60 more spares to get to 648 total spacecraft in the first-generation OneWeb fleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real important number is 588, which are the operational satellites,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cThe 648 number includes 60 spares, and we\u2019re thinking about maybe reducing the number of spares we have up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen of the additional OneWeb launches will use Soyuz rockets later this year and next year from Baikonur, Vostochny and French Guiana. And OneWeb has agreed to launch at least 30 satellites on the inaugural flight of the next-generation European Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana at the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

Nine more OneWeb launches are scheduled this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis launch \u2026 opens a series of up to nine other launches in 2020 for the benefit of OneWeb,\u201d Israel said. \u201cWe will have up to six launches from Baikonur and Vostochny, two (Soyuz) from French Guiana \u2026 and the Ariane 62 maiden flight by the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steckel acknowledged that SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites, which fly on Falcon 9 rockets with reused first stage boosters, have a lower launch cost than OneWeb.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, they have a launch cost that is far below mine,\u201d Steckel said.<\/p>\n

OneWeb has a contract for four launches on Virgin Orbit\u2019s air-dropped LauncherOne rocket, each with two satellites. But those missions are tailored for adding replacement satellites to the fleet, or filling a gap in the network, not for getting a lot of satellites into orbit quickly.<\/p>\n

Steckel said OneWeb is studying plans for a second-generation network, which could bring the constellation to near 2,000 satellites. He said finding a launch provider with an acceptable launch cost will be a big factor in deciding what rockets would send the upgraded satellites into orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have conversations with other launch providers,\u201d Steckel said. \u201cWe\u2019re obviously already thinking about the next generation, what it looks like as a system, and what the cost of that is, and launch costs will be a big part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can say is launch costs have come down significantly, and we think that the price per kilogram is coming down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated with confirmation of acquisition of signal from all 34 satellites. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 34 OneWeb broadband satellites on-board. Credit: Roscosmos BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan \u2014 A Russian Soyuz launcher fired into orbit from the remote steppe of Kazakhstan Thursday with 34 satellites built on Florida\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1657,498,1601,252,291,2281,2361,1763],"class_list":["post-12665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-arianespace","tag-baikonur-cosmodrome","tag-broadband","tag-commercial-space","tag-exploration-park","tag-florida","tag-fregat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}