"As the space communications industry shows no signs of slowing down this year following on from a robust 2025, Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by operator Eutelsat to build 340 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to ensure operational continuity of the OneWeb constellation. OneWeb formed in 2012 with the aim of addressing the communication needs of hard-to-reach places, stating that its network has a unique capability to serve hard-to-reach communities and provide improved capacity, mobile resilience, backhaul and coverage, including Fixed Wireless Access, in challenging geographic locations."
"However, the company's evolution was a struggle and OneWeb filed for bankruptcy in the US in March 2020 after failing to find private investment. It was rescued by a $500m investment from both the UK government and Bharti Global, and returned to business in December 2020 with a 36-satellite payload, with an aim to implement a constellation of 650 LEO satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals. These were seen as a way to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to internet of things (IoT) devices, and a pathway for mass adoption of 5G services."
Airbus Defence and Space received a contract from Eutelsat to build 340 low Earth orbit satellites to maintain OneWeb constellation operations. OneWeb launched in 2012 to serve hard-to-reach communities with improved capacity, mobile resilience, backhaul and Fixed Wireless Access. OneWeb filed for US bankruptcy in March 2020, then returned after a $500m rescue investment from the UK government and Bharti Global, relaunching with 36 satellites and plans for a 650-satellite LEO constellation with global gateways and user terminals. Eutelsat invested in OneWeb in 2021 and later merged, and the network operates across 12 synchronized orbital planes at 1,200 km.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]