After delays, OneWeb launches its first six low-Earth broadband satellites

Enlarge / Illustration of a OneWeb satellite. (credit: OneWeb)

OneWeb yesterday launched the first six low-Earth orbit satellites for its planned global broadband network, saying it will provide worldwide broadband access by 2021. The satellites are test units, which OneWeb will evaluate over the next half-year to make sure they work properly.

"If we get six out of six working, that will be amazing," OneWeb founder Greg Wyler said, according to a Bloomberg article.

The satellites were "aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana," the company said in an announcement today. The satellites left the rocket in two batches and "[s]ignal acquisition has been confirmed for all six satellites," the company said.

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