Russian "Union" launched the first satellites of the global Internet
While SpaceX is busy building ground stations for the StarLink project, its rival fellow company Arianespace launched the first 6 satellites as part of the OneWeb program. The vehicles launched from the Kourou Cosmodrome on February 28, and the Russian Soyuz ST-B was used as a launch vehicle.
Recall that the OneWeb project provides for the launch of 650 satellites, which will be located in low Earth orbit at a distance of 1200 km from the Earth’s surface and will provide access to the global network anywhere in the world. According to the developers, this will help solve the problem of using the Internet in remote corners, where, at the moment, this is problematic due to the geographical location. It is assumed that the throughput with this connection will be 50 Mb / s.
It is worth noting that Roscosmos plays an active role in the implementation of the project. Now, between the Russian corporation and Arianespace, a contract has been signed for 21 launches from cosmodromes: Baikonur, Vostochny and Kuru. Soyuz rockets will be delivering satellites into orbit. In addition, Roscosmos owns a controlling stake in OneWeb, which will be responsible for access to satellite Internet in the Russian Federation.
If the 6 vehicles sent successfully pass the tests, then in the future it is planned to deliver 32 satellites into orbit in one launch. Full coverage and start-up of the OneWeb network can be implemented by 2021.
Recall that the OneWeb project provides for the launch of 650 satellites, which will be located in low Earth orbit at a distance of 1200 km from the Earth’s surface and will provide access to the global network anywhere in the world. According to the developers, this will help solve the problem of using the Internet in remote corners, where, at the moment, this is problematic due to the geographical location. It is assumed that the throughput with this connection will be 50 Mb / s.
It is worth noting that Roscosmos plays an active role in the implementation of the project. Now, between the Russian corporation and Arianespace, a contract has been signed for 21 launches from cosmodromes: Baikonur, Vostochny and Kuru. Soyuz rockets will be delivering satellites into orbit. In addition, Roscosmos owns a controlling stake in OneWeb, which will be responsible for access to satellite Internet in the Russian Federation.
If the 6 vehicles sent successfully pass the tests, then in the future it is planned to deliver 32 satellites into orbit in one launch. Full coverage and start-up of the OneWeb network can be implemented by 2021.
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