Losing 4 satellites out of an orbital fleet of 634 satellites is not a bad ratio. However, the operator – currently en route to a merger with Eutelsat – is urging for an industry-wide approach to safely disposing of failed satellites.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, OneWeb’s executive chairman and currently major shareholder through his Bharti Global business, speaking at the recent VivaTech event in Paris, said satellite operators must prepare for failed satellites.

Mittal explained that all of OneWeb’s craft were designed with easy de-orbiting to take place (the company has an agreement in place with Japanese orbital debris removal specialists Astroscale).

OneWeb orbit their satellites at 1200 kms and thus would not naturally degrade in height over time.

But he issued a barbed comment about OneWeb’s rivals in particular Elon Musk’s Starlink. Starlink satellites orbit at much lower altitudes (about 550 kms) and a failed Starlink satellite would degrade and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere over time. “It is important that regulators not allow a ‘space grab’ by people who want to put 10,000- 20,000 satellites up there,” he argued.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite

Tags: OneWeb, Paris