This year will see Soyuz rockets launching for OneWeb on a near monthly basis The UK-based OneWeb company has sent 34 satellites into orbit on a single Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The start-up is building a mega-constellation in the sky to deliver broadband internet to all corners of the globe. Six spacecraft were lofted in 2019 to prove the technology, but this year will see big batches of platforms going up on a near monthly basis. The aim is to have the full network in operation by the end of 2021. OneWeb is in a race with a number of other companies that want to provide the same kind of service. ONEWEB Adrian Steckel: "There's room for three or four players in this market" The Soyuz rocket left Baikonur at 02:42 local time on Friday, 7 February (21:42 GMT on Thursday, 6 February). Its mission was to drop its satellite batch into one of 12 planes planned for the constellation. Next month, another Soyuz will loft a further 34 spacecraft to begin populating two more planes. Eventually, the full network will comprise 648 satellites (60 of which will be in-orbit spares ready to fill behind any failures). It's an ambitious roll-out made possible by high volume manufacturing at a factory set up in Florida by OneWeb and the aerospace giant Airbus, who are partners on the the project. Up to two spacecraft a day are now rolling off the production line. But while the media are very focused on the numbers of satellites and rockets involved, these elements won't define the west London company's future success or failure. This will depend more on the relationships OneWeb is able to establish with the telcos and other organisations that will be exploiting and distributing its internet service around the world. ONEWEB