Click here to Join L2 Run from London, OneWeb is building the world’s largest and highest throughput satellite system. To develop its constellation of satellites under 200 kg, OneWeb had already signed a contract with Arianespace in 2015 for 21 Soyuz launches and has also booked places on other launch providers, including Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne. Following the successful opening launch on a recent Arianespace Soyuz ST-B rocket, the company announced this week it has secured its largest fundraising round to date with the successful raise of $1.25 billion in new capital. This brings the total funds raised to $3.4 billion. This round was led by SoftBank Group Corp., Grupo Salinas, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and the Government of Rwanda. “This latest funding round, our largest to date, makes OneWeb’s service inevitable and is a vote of confidence from our core investor base in our business model and the OneWeb value proposition,” said Adrian Steckel, CEO of OneWeb. “With the recent successful launch of our first six satellites, near-completion of our innovative satellite manufacturing facility with our partner Airbus, progress towards fully securing our ITU priority spectrum position, and the signing of our first customer contracts, OneWeb is moving from the planning and development stage to deployment of our full constellation. “Our success is made possible thanks to the backing of our investors and the cooperation of our world class commercial partners including Arianespace, Airbus, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Virgin, and Hughes.” It is expected that 300 satellites will allow it to reach service before the initial constellation – compromised of approximately 650 satellites – will provide full coverage before scaling to more than 900 spacecraft as it grows to meet demand around the world. A figure of around 2,000 has been mentioned in the company’s overall ambitions, which also includes a large number of spares. Ariane 6 will be available to OneWeb from the second half of 2020 to provide launch capacity that supports the full deployment and replenishment of the OneWeb constellation. The launch service agreement specifies the use of the qualification launch of the Ariane 62 version, scheduled for the second half of 2020; the two Ariane 6 options (either in its 62 version, accommodating up to 36 OneWeb satellites, or in the 64 version, up to 78 OneWeb satellites) will be utilized starting in 2023. The OneWeb satellites will be launched by the first Ariane 62 into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers before raising themselves to their operational orbit. “We are glad to see OneWeb on board the first Ariane 6. It confirms its attractiveness on today’s commercial market and sets a mark for Ariane 6’s future,” added Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA Director of Space Transportation. Visualization of a OneWeb satellite in orbit – via OneWeb Airbus has built the initial satellites, while OneWeb plans to locate a 100,000 square foot satellite manufacturing facility on Florida’s Space Coast at Exploration Park, just south of Kennedy Space Center to build the hundreds of additional satellites that will be launched over the coming years. The satellites work on the Ku band, communicating in the microwave range of frequencies in the 12–18 GHz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and use a technique called “progressive pitch” in which the satellites are slightly turned to avoid interference with Ku-band satellites in geostationary orbit. The user terminal antenna on the ground will be a phased array antenna measuring approximately 36 by 16 centimeters (14.2 by 6.3 in) and will provide Internet access at 50 megabits/second. For this first launch, six operational satellites and four “mockups” were launched. Installing the satellites on the dispenser – via OneWeb These will provide pathfinder testing, not unlike the two Starlink satellites that SpaceX launched a year ago. Starlink is set to be another huge broadband constellation that will involve thousands of satellites. “Arianespace is extremely proud to be a part of the effort to deploy OneWeb’s constellation. OneWeb’s choice to fly aboard the first Ariane 6 says a great deal about Arianespace’s DNA: we have always been at the forefront in bringing together innovation and reliability,” noted Stéphane Israël, Arianespace Chief Executive Officer. “This contract illustrates the outstanding versatility of our future launcher, which will be a champion during the next decade, embracing all market needs. I wish also to thank the European Space Agency which has accepted to allocate to the market this first flight of Ariane 6, which is part of its development contract with our prime contractor and parent company ArianeGroup.”