OneWeb, formerly known as WorldVu, is a satellite constellation consisting of 648 microsatellites to provide world wide internet access for individual consumers and airlines.
The constellation was being deployed by OneWeb, formerly known as WorldVu Satellites and headquartered in London, UK with offices in California, Florida, Virginia, Dubai and Singapore.
OneWeb declared bankruptcy in late March 2020, and has laid off most of their employees, but is maintaining the satellite operations center for the 68 satellites already in orbit while the court determines disposition of the OneWeb assets.
In total 74 satellites were launched before the bankruptcy. The first six test satellites were launched in February 2019; the first large batch of 34 satellites was launched in February 2020, another 34 satellites were put into orbit in March 2020.
The small satellites were built by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb. The satellites are operating in a circular low Earth orbit, at approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) altitude, transmitting and receiving in the Ku band of the radio frequency spectrum. Prior to the bankruptcy, OneWeb had been considering nearly quadrupling the size of the satellite constellation over time by adding 1,972 additional satellites that it has priority spectrum rights to.
Facts in Brief
Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat
Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), Kazakhstan
Mass: 147 kg