SpaceX Launches OneWeb Internet Satellites To Orbit

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 40 broadband satellites into orbit for the United Kingdom-based company OneWeb. The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:43 a.m. Friday IST.

The rocket’s first stage landed on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral about 7 minutes and 50 seconds after launch.

Meanwhile, the rocket’s upper stage continued its journey to low Earth orbit (LEO). Beginning about 59 minutes after liftoff, the OneWeb satellites were deployed in small batches. By T+96 minutes, all 40 had been successfully deployed.

OneWeb is constructing a constellation of over 600 LEO satellites that will provide internet service to customers all over the world.

According to a mission description, Thursday’s mission, known as OneWeb 17, brings the total number of satellites in this network to 582 They added that only one more launch of 40 satellites will be required to complete the constellation’s construction.

The majority of OneWeb’s satellites have been launched atop Russian-made Soyuz rockets operated by the French firm Arianespace. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year put an end to that arrangement, and OneWeb was forced to find other ways to orbit.

The company did so quickly, inking deals with SpaceX and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation. OneWeb has now flown with SpaceX three times (on Falcon 9 rockets) and NSIL once (on an Indian GSLV Mark III vehicle).

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