Page 81 - SAMENA Trends - March 2020

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OneWeb Plans Satellite Launch from Kazakhstan

OneWeb plans to launch 34 communications satellites from time is expected to be favorable. "Rocket is now on the launch
Kazakhstan -- its third such launch of satellites made in Florida. pad and we are continuing to prep for our third #OneWebLaunch,"
The communications company based in London and Virginia the company said on Twitter. OneWeb is one of several U.S.
has been mass-producing satellites near Kennedy Space Center companies competing to launch huge new constellations of
since last year. The company previously launched 40 satellites satellites to provide high-speed reliable Internet around the globe.
from space centers in Kazakhstan and South America. Saturday's Others include SpaceX's Starlink, Amazon and Telesat. SpaceX
launch is planned for Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in has the largest constellation so far, at 362 satellites, and plans
Kazakhstan, using Soyuz rockets purchased through the French for up to 42,000. But SpaceX and OneWeb appear to be aiming at
space firm Arianespace. OneWeb said the weather for the launch different markets, said Shagun Sachdeva, a satellite analyst with
Northern Sky Research. "SpaceX officials have indicated Starlink
will be a premium product, that they aren't going super cheap,"
Sachdeva said. "With OneWeb, they are going more for rural
areas, underserved parts of the planet, and cheaply." OneWeb is a
relatively new company that announced its plans to build in Florida
in 2016. OneWeb Satellites, a subsidiary and a joint venture with
European aerospace company Airbus, opened a factory in 2019.
Initially, OneWeb founder Greg Wyler said he would launch with
Virgin Galactic, and then signed a deal with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin
rocket company. But neither of those companies has launched
a payload into space. OneWeb said it is dedicating Saturday's
launch to the late Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who became
the first person to walk in space in 1965. The satellites will be
headed to a near-polar orbit about 280 miles high, after which
they will be raised to their final orbit of approximately 745 miles.
OneWeb Satellites are about the size of a small refrigerator. By
comparison, Starlink satellites orbit at a height of about 340 miles
above the Earth, and feature a flat-panel design about the size of
a large dinner table. Both companies' satellites have solar panels
that extend after deployment. The Kármán line that defines space
is 62 miles high, and the International Space Station is orbiting
Earth at more than 250 miles high.

SpaceX to Launch Next 60 Starlink Internet Satellites

SpaceX will launch 60 new Starlink satellites to join its ever-growing
broadband internet megaconstellation. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will
launch the Starlink mission at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is SpaceX's sixth launch of the year and the sixth Starlink launch to
date. The mission will star a veteran Falcon 9 rocket that will do what no
other Falcon has done before: launch and land five times. The booster,
dubbed B1048.5, previously launched a bevy of satellites including part of
the Iridium NEXT constellations, an Israeli lunar lander a communications
satellites for Argentina and Indonesia, and a previous Starlink mission. This
is a major milestone for SpaceX. The upgraded version of their workhorse
was introduced in 2018, launching the first communications satellite for
Bangladesh. Company founder and CEO, Elon Musk said that the souped up
booster would be able to fly ten times with little refurbishment in between.
Sunday's flight marks the first time a Falcon has reached the halfway point.
To date, four Falcons have four successful flights under their belts, but this
booster will be the first to launch five times. However, of those four, two were
not recovered and will not fly again. One was intentionally destroyed during
the company’s in-flight abort test and the booster used in the latest Starlink
mission before this one, it was lost after narrowly missing the drone ship.
81 MARCH 2020