Flight ST34, the 29th commercial mission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan performed by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate, will put 34 of OneWeb’s satellites bringing the total fleet to 288 satellites into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. After separation, the satellites will raise themselves to their operational orbit.
OneWeb’s mission is to bring internet everywhere to everyone, by creating a global connectivity platform through a next generation satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. OneWeb’s constellation of 650 satellites will deliver high-speed, low-latency enterprise grade connectivity services to a wide range of customer sectors including enterprise, government, maritime and aviation customers. Central to its purpose, OneWeb seeks to bring connectivity to every unconnected area where fiber cannot reach, and thereby bridge the digital divide. Once deployed, the OneWeb constellation will enable user terminals that are capable of offering 3G, LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi coverage, providing high-speed access globally – by air, sea and land.
In 2021, the company is focused on scaling the satellite constellation to launch commercial services starting at the end of 2021 to the UK, Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic Seas.
- With Flight ST34, Arianespace will put in orbit a total of 421 spacecraft from Airbus Defence and Space (including OneWeb Satellites – a joint-venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space founded in 2016). The Arianespace backlog of payloads remaining to be launched for Airbus Defence and Space (excluding the remaining OneWeb satellites) counts 18 additional payloads.
- The first eight OneWeb missions carrying 254 satellites were successfully orbited by Arianespace.
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RUAG Space AB (Linköping, Sweden) is the prime contractor in charge of development and production of the dispenser system used on Flight ST34. It will carry the satellites during their flight to low Earth orbit and then release them into space. The dedicated dispenser is designed to accommodate up to 36 spacecraft per launch, allowing Arianespace to timely deliver the lion’s share of the initial OneWeb constellation.