Edinburgh, 23 August 2021. – British operator OneWeb’s 34 new satellites launched into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket operated by Arianespace. The take-off was at 22.13 GMT Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Roscosmos space agency and Arianespace said.
It was the fifth launch of OneWeb satellites this year, with the last one being in July. OneWeb is working on a constellation of LEO satellites providing enhanced broadband internet services around in the world. The company is competing against Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the race to reach the world’s remote areas via satellites.
OneWeb is planning for its global commercial internet service to be up and running by next year.
Out of the outlined 650 satellites, a total of 288 are now in orbit for the constellation . Arianespace is to make a total of 16 Soyuz launches between December 2020 and the end of 2022.
