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OneWeb

Hinds appointed OneWeb Satellites CEO

OneWeb Satellites, the joint-venture business set up in Florida and owned by OneWeb itself and Airbus, has appointed a new CEO, promoting the current COO James Hinds to the role. He takes over from Tony Gingiss who has headed the business since 2017. OneWeb’s latest batch of 36 satellites are due for launch on December […]

December 17, 2020By Chris Forrester

“No pot of gold” for LEO constellations

SpaceX is well on track to have 1000 satellites in orbit by the end of January 2021. Rival OneWeb is due to add another 36 craft to its existing fleet of 74 satellites on December 17th.  Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has yet to launch any of his Project Kuiper fleet, but observers are expecting launch action […]

December 14, 2020

OneWeb will add positioning in Gen. 2.0

Sunil Mittal, executive chairman of OneWeb, has confirmed that the satellite operator will add a global positioning, navigation and timing system onto its 2nd Generation of satellites for a GPS-type service. Mittal’s Bharti is a joint investor with the UK government in OneWeb. Meanwhile, he said that OneWeb’s current fleet can provide a timing service. […]

December 14, 2020By Chris Forrester

Europe could fund global LEO broadband

The European Commission seems enthusiastic about backing its own dedicated Low Earth Orbit system for satellite-based broadband. Speaking during the European Space Week 2020 its Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, spoke in favour of a Quantum Communications Infrastructure satellite scheme. The European Commission has awarded a group of European telcos, satellite manufacturers and […]

December 11, 2020

OneWeb ready to go

OneWeb’s technicians and the launch engineers at Russia’s Vostochny spaceport have fully integrated 36 satellites in readiness for a launch target date of December 17th. The rocket’s protective fairing is graced with flags of the UK and India representing the company’s two major shareholding owners, the UK government and Bharti Enterprises of India. The actual […]

December 11, 2020By Chris Forrester

Report: Increased opportunities for satellite broadband

A report from management consultants Deloitte says that commercial aerospace and defence industry revenues will recover in 2021 after the challenges of 2020. Deloitte says that satellite-based broadband (and space exploration) will continue to drive growth. “As funding continues to increase and costs decline, the space industry is likely to experience increased opportunities, primarily in […]

December 11, 2020

OneWeb planning for India business

Bharti Global’s MD Shravin Mittal, son of Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal, speaking to India’s Economic Times, says that Bharti is now planning how it will enter the giant Indian market. Mittal says that OneWeb is on track to secure the regulatory approvals and permissions to launch a service in India. However, what is not […]

December 2, 2020By Chris Forrester

OneWeb satellite production restarts

OneWeb, now out of bankruptcy (the formal documents are to be signed on November 30th and the final Court hearing is scheduled for December 3rd), has officially restarted its dual satellite production lines at its joint-venture factory in Florida. OneWeb now has backing from a consortium including the UK government and Bharti Global. “Due to […]

November 24, 2020By Chris Forrester

OneWeb to build Version 2 craft for positioning

OneWeb, which exited its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring last week, says the company is planning for a Generation 2 version of its current satellite design which would incorporate global positioning. Adrian Steckel, the outgoing CEO, told Space Intel Report that a satellite fleet with positioning, navigation and timing (the key PNT elements of any GPS […]

November 23, 2020By Chris Forrester

UK-backed OneWeb exits bankruptcy

OneWeb, the LEO system now backed by UK government, has cleared the challenges of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction. The company, in a statement, said: “Today, OneWeb announces its emergence from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and achievement of all relevant regulatory approvals. A consortium of UK Government (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, […]

November 20, 2020By Chris Forrester