OneWeb places further 36 satellites into orbit

A SOYUZ rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Monday (26) carrying 36 UK telecommunications and internet satellites, the Roscosmos space agency said.

OneWeb, a London-headquartered company, is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the world. It is a joint venture of the UK government and Indian telecoms giant Bharti.

Images released by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos showed the Soyuz rocket taking off against hazy skies Monday morning at 7.14 am local time (2214 GMT).

“All satellites have been successfully placed in target orbits and have been taken under customer control,” Roscosmos said in a statement. “Mission success!” OneWeb wrote on Twitter.

The UK company plans for its global commercial internet service to be operational by next year, supported by some 650 satellites.

OneWeb is competing against billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the race to provide fast internet via satellites for the world’s remote areas.

Monday’s launch was the third batch of OneWeb’s satellites placed into orbit from Russia, with earlier launches from the Vostochny cosmodrome of 36 satellites each taking place in December.

OneWeb’s first six satellites were also launched by a Russian-made Soyuz rocket, taking off from the space centre in Kourou in French Guiana in February 2019.

The company launched 68 more from the Baikanour launch site in Kazakhstan last year.

last month and