Page 68 - SAMENA Trends - June-August 2021

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

OneWeb, StarLink and AAC Space Africa Launches Spark Satellite Fever

August has seen major activity in the space high network speeds to those with low conducting private tests. Starlink has
wars as satellite launches ranged from new access. OneWeb received a $300 million launched 1,701 satellites into orbit, and it
companies to services to infrastructure. equity boost from South Korea’s Hanwha estimates that 1,400 are fully functional.
Satellite comms operator OneWeb has Systems for an 8.8 per cent stake, bringing Founder Elon Musk said he wants to
launched 34 news satellites into low total equity investment to $2.7 billion since run tens of thousands of LEO satellites.
orbit from the Baikonur cosmodrome November 2020, with no debt issuance. African space race AAC Space Africa will
in Kazakhstan. In Europe Starlink, the The fresh investment is expected to design, build and deliver space missions
SpaceX-owned satellite internet operator be completed in the first half of 2022, to the continent from its Cape Town base
has obtained regulatory approval to subject to regulatory approvals. Inmarsat in South Africa's Western Cape Province.
provide its comms services in the Czech criticizes LEO expectations Bharti Group- The new subsidiary will also be the group's
Republic and pledged to launch a service backed OneWeb is readying to take on center of competence for advanced radio
‘soon’. Meanwhile, a satellite company Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project communication. Its management team
launch by AAC Clyde Space saw it unveil Kuiper. Critics at UK-based satellite claims to have 40 years of small satellite
Space Africa, a service catering for the comms provider Inmarsat have dismissed experience, having pioneered the African
growing market demand for satellites and the competitive service offered by LEO CubeSat industry through several missions
space services in Africa. OneWeb’s Low operators, such as Starlink and OneWeb, and launched the first CubeSat on the
Earth Orbit (LEO) service, jointly owned saying they “lack fundamental capabilities” continent. The African Space economy will
by India’s Bharti (telecoms) group and the of providing secure and comprehensive be worth $10 billion by 2024, according
UK government, now has a total in-orbit fast broadband coverage. According to to AAC Space Africa. Previously AAC
constellation of 288 satellites. These form Czech server lupa.cz end services might Clyde Space had to track ocean currents
part of OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet that be available to Czech users as early as with earth observation technologies run
promises high-speed, low-latency global September 1, 2021 but this date is more through its European companies' hubs.
connectivity. European mobile operators, likely to mark the beginning of connection "We see great potential for small satellites
such as BT, are increasingly using satellite testing. However, Starlink’s Irish branch has to provide timely, accurate and targeted
to bulk up their infrastructure. “OneWeb notified the Czech Telecommunications data for weather forecasting, ocean
is seeing huge demand for its services Authority of the commencement services. monitoring, agricultural planning and land
from global customers,” said CEO Neil The beta version of the service is already management,” said AAC Clyde Space CEO
Masterson. Clients include telcos, ISPs available in 12 countries, including Luis Gomes.
and governments wanting to bring Germany and Austria, with some countries

China Finishes Low-Orbit Broadband Satellite, 5G Network Integration Test

China's first low-orbit broadband satellite robots in Jinan. Experts said the test could orbit satellite broadband communication
and 5G network integration test was lead to wireless support for remote areas systems will be able to provide broadband
completed on Sunday, CCTV reported. and emergency communication scenarios. wireless communication for polar scientific
The report said the test, which was Peng Mugen, from Beijing University of research teams and deep-sea exploration,
completed in Beijing and Jinan, East Posts and Telecommunications, said that as well as helping to deal with forest fires,
China's Shandong Province, has built a the integration of 5G networks and low- emergencies and post-disaster rescue.
backbone network between 5G networks
in the two cities via low-orbit broadband
satellites. Satellite networks can replace
ground fiber networks that need to be
laid in advance, the report said. This test
simulated a dangerous goods leak at a
factory in Jinan, and Beijing staff handled
the accident remotely. The network
allowed the Beijing staff to observe the
scene in real time, manipulate Jinan's
unmanned vehicles to approach the
dangerous goods, and use robotic arms
to deal with the situation. Chen Tianheng,
an engineer, said the time delay in the test
was about 20-30 milliseconds, and the
operators used VR video to control the
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