OneWeb confirms successful
deployment of 16 satellites including
next-generation JoeySat
20 May 2023
OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit
(LEO) satellite communications company, today
confirmed the successful deployment of 16 satellites
that will provide increased resilience and
redundancy to the OneWeb constellation as the
company progresses toward global services. Included
in this key batch is JoeySat, a satellite that will
test an innovative beam-hopping capability which
will allow satellites to switch between different
places on Earth and adjust the strength of the
communications signals based on customer needs or
demands.
Liftoff occurred on 20 May at
6:16 PT (local) from Space Launch Complex 4 East
(SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in
California. OneWeb’s satellites separated
successfully from the vehicle and were dispensed in
eight phases over a period of 1 hour and 26 minutes,
and signal acquisition on all 16 satellites has been
confirmed. The launch marked OneWeb’s fourth
successful launch with SpaceX.
With 634 satellites now
in-orbit, OneWeb is on track to deliver global
coverage this year and is already in the process of
scaling services for customers around the world.
With the addition of the satellites deployed from
this launch, OneWeb will increase the resiliency and
redundancy in the constellation as it expands
services to its growing base of enterprise and
government customers.
The 16th satellite launched
today is nicknamed JoeySat. Developed through the
European Space Agency and UKSA Sunrise Partnership
programme, JoeySat carries an innovative payload
design which will demonstrate digital regenerative
processing, electronically steered multi-beam
arrays, and digital beamforming and beam-hopping
technologies. These capabilities, planned for
OneWeb’s Gen 2 constellation, will offer more
flexibility and capacity to customers, optimizing
resources to manage real-time surges in commercial
demand or to enable rapid responses to emergencies
such as natural disasters.
This new digital payload is
developed in the UK by our Sunrise programme
partner, Satixfy UK. JoeySat is also an integral
component of the End-to-End system validations,
testing innovative features including 5G Pilot
Tests, which will be performed in collaboration with
University of Surrey UK, Celestia UK and Satixfy UK.
The aim is to create an interoperable network
integrating space and ground assets by which OneWeb
will be able to seamlessly manage backhaul to
support 5G connectivity.
Also on board JoeySat is a
Radiation Monitor, developed by partners Oledcomm
and Advacam, which will measure and monitor the
radiation environment in LEO, and provide critical
information to OneWeb and the scientific community
for future missions.
Neil Masterson, Chief Executive
Officer of OneWeb, commented: “We are excited to see
the successful completion of our 19th launch, which
would not have been possible without our committed
team and our enormously skilled launch partners. We
have made tremendous progress in scaling our
services, and today’s launch is a testament to our
commitment to continue improving our service to our
customers. Never ones to rest on our laurels, we
also view this launch as proof positive of our drive
to innovate, as we test new technologies that will
usher in the future of our connectivity capabilities
and services. We now look ahead to scaling our
services as well as making important advancements in
the future of connectivity.”
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