British-owned satellite broadband operator OneWeb, rescued from bankruptcy by the British government in November, recently launched 36 satellites into orbit, while steadily expanding its constellation in space. Like American billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Internet provider for space, OneWeb aims to beam Internet from satellites in orbit to homes and businesses around the world.
Right now, the main difference between Elon Musk’s company SpaceX and OneWeb is that it is way ahead of OneWeb, as it currently has around 1,300 satellites in orbit of 550 kilometers and plans to launch 42,000 by mid-2027. OneWeb, for its part, plans to have 648 satellites in orbit of 1,200 kilometers to provide a global service. Thursday’s launch was the second of five OneWeb launches in 2021 to provide internet to places such as Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, the Nordic countries and Northern Europe. The fifth launch will take place in June, when OneWeb aims to provide broadband throughout the UK by mid-2022.
For more information, read the <a href=”https://africa.businessinsider.com/tech/oneweb-a-new-satellite-company-from-the-uk-is-going-head-to-head-with-spacexs/5qpte1q” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>original story</a> in Business Insider
