SpaceX successfully launched 40 satellites for competing communications company OneWeb on Thursday.
It’s the first of three planned missions the unlikely collaborators are set to perform over the coming months despite their separate efforts to build megaconstellations that will beam broadband Internet coverage to Earth.
At the time, a Russian Soyuz rocket was on the launchpad in Kazakhstan preparing to launch the latest batch of OneWeb satellites. OneWeb and its stakeholders refused to agree to the demands. Ultimately, Roscosmos decided to roll back the rocket, a move that cost OneWeb $230 million and sent them searching for new launch providers.
OneWeb secured launch agreements with SpaceX, the Indian Space Research Organization , and startup Relativity. Thursday’s launch, which took off at 5:27p.m. local time from Florida, brings OneWeb’s total satellites in orbit to 502, which gets the company to 80% coverage of the world, according to Masterson. OneWeb’s next two dedicated launches with SpaceX are planned through the spring of next year, in addition to another launch with ISRO.
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