OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture equally owned by Airbus Defence and Space and OneWeb, has selected the first three top-tier subcontractors.
The supply contracts have been signed with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) from Canada, Sodern from France and Teledyne Defence (a business unit of Teledyne Microwave Solutions) from the United Kingdom.
To equip each of the 900 satellites forming the OneWeb fleet, MDA will provide on board antenna systems, Sodern has customized to constellation their star tracker technology, while Teledyne Defence has designed communications repeater equipment derived from their high volume manufacturing heritage. With this milestone, OneWeb Satellites is pursuing its industrial development and rapidly moving forward. In April, OneWeb announced that Florida would host the site for the company's high volume satellite manufacturing factory.
The space segment of OneWeb will be initially comprised of a constellation of 648 operational satellites and replacement satellites, all of them identical. Each satellite will weigh approximately 150 kg and will operate in LEO. Arianespace and Virgin Galactic will begin launching the spacecraft in 2018, after which the satellites will be moved to their operational orbits using electrical propulsion.
OneWeb Satellites was set up following the selection in June 2015 of Airbus Defence and Space as the industrial partner of OneWeb to design and build the satellites. The constellation is to be operated by OneWeb and will provide high-speed Internet services with global coverage. The joint venture will also be able to produce satellites, platforms or equipment to be marketed by Airbus Defence and Space for the benefit of other operators of future constellations.
To assist in acquiring the knowledge and expertise to enter and/or continue the acquisition of technology and product to become a successful smallsat actor, Satnews Publishers is delighted to announce that the SmallSat Symposium workshops will be held on February 6 and the conference will be conducted from February 7 to February 8, 2017, at the Computer History Museum, which is located at 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View, California.
A veritable "Who's Who" of subject-matter experts have already committed to presentations during this impact-filled symposium:
