Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur Effectively Deploys OneWeb Satellites

The recent Soyuz rocket launch has taken another batch of OneWeb satellites into orbit. It has been a perfect injection of 34 spacecraft, according to OneWeb’s chief technical officer, Massimiliano Ladovaz. The entire process, from the launch to the final deployment, took less than four hours. Still, it was a great step for OneWeb satellites launch mission in their competition with the companies providing Internet connectivity.

Soyuz Rocket Launch Adds 34 Satellites to OneWeb Family

The rivals are, traditionally, SpaceX Starlink, which has already launched more than 1,500 satellites, and other companies that are only preparing to enter the market.

On the other hand, there is no race in satellite numbers between SpaceX and OneWeb. With the latest Soyuz rocket launch, the British company has 288 spacecraft in orbit. But the point is they don’t need as many satellites as SpaceX does. Musk’s company plans to launch around 12,000 satellites in total. However, according to the OneWeb satellites launch plan, it will be sufficient to deploy around 600 spacecraft by 2022.

The Ninth OneWeb Satellites Launch Is a Success

Overall, the OneWeb satellite launch went as planned. The first stage started with launch and took about two minutes before the boosters were dropped. The next five minutes passed, and the core stage was over. The vehicle proceeded with the third one; then, the clamshell payload was released. A couple of minutes later, the Soyuz rocket launch gave way to the ascent of Fregat, an autonomous upper stage developed in Russia. Eventually, Fregat delivered the satellites to the required altitudes.

This is the ninth Soyuz rocket launch dedicated to OneWeb’s payload delivery. It took place on the Kazakhstan-based Baikonur Cosmodrome operated by Roscosmos. There were also Soyuz – OneWeb satellites launch missions on Cosmodrome Vostochny in Russia and Guiana Space Center in South America.