OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK Government and aims to deploy a global network of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for ultrafast low-latency broadband provision, has signed a new agreement to deliver fast in-flight WiFi on aircraft with SatixFy, a British manufacturer of electronic components.
At present OneWeb has lofted a total of 110 LEOs into space and the initial plan is to build a constellation of 648 satellites, which is enough for a reasonable level of global coverage by around the end of 2022. After that they have future approval for a total of 2,000 satellites and 1,280 of those will be a second-generation model that sits in a higher Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of 8,500km, but that would require more investment.
In theory the new network could deliver ultrafast broadband speeds (100Mbps+) and latency times of under 40ms (example), although we still have no idea what sort of service will actually be made available to the domestic connectivity market and how much it might cost. Nevertheless, if recent tests by the rival Starlink (SpaceX) platform are anything to go by, OneWeb could offer a fix for poor broadband speeds in rural areas.
However, the company also has plans to serve other sectors, and has previously spoken of their desire to aid government, business and maritime connectivity. One other area that OneWeb could target is the aviation market, where at present many airlines are still hobbled by restrictive and often expensive in-flight connectivity to big GSO/GEO satellites.
The new deal with SatixFry plays into that by starting the process of developing new in-flight connectivity terminals for OneWeb’s LEO network, as well as on geostationary satellite networks. The new terminals will “use electronically steered multi-beam antenna technologies to provide multi-beam capability and operate simultaneously via many different satellites” (i.e. aggregating capacity from multiple satellites).
Satixfy is said to have formed a joint venture called JetTalk with Singapore Technology Engineering Ltd to commercialise the terminal for commercial aviation markets.
Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Growth at the UK Space Agency, says:
“The past year has shown that connectivity has never been more important to our daily lives, and it is exciting to see SatixFy and OneWeb working together to provide commercial passenger planes with broadband internet for the first time.
The new aero terminal will make use of chips developed with UK Space Agency backing, which demonstrates how supporting our most innovative companies leads to results that make a real difference for people all over the world.”
OneWeb’s next launch is currently planned for Thursday 25th March next week, which will see 36 new LEO satellites being sent into orbit abroad the large Soyuz-2 rocket from Arianespace in Russia.
We should add that LEOs like this are designed with a short lifespan and after that they will de-orbit (either automatically or, if that fails, then gravity will pull them down within 1-5 years). The reason for this is to help tackle fears about too much “space junk” around the Earth (potentially blocking access to space if a chain reaction of collisions were to occur).
However, many astronomers also complain that LEOs make conducting observation science more difficult, which is something that OneWeb itself has yet to fully address. SpaceX has been more responsive on this matter, but their constellation will also be much larger and so remains a key concern for astronomers.
Meanwhile, none of the new LEO constellations have yet to prove their long-term financial viability, although they’re still a bit too new for that.