OneWeb mulls debris-removal service for failed satellite

OneWeb is considering options to remove one of its broadband satellites from low Earth orbit after it failed following a software issue last year. “We are looking at all potential suppliers to address de-orbit as and when the tech is safe,” said Chris Mclaughlin, OneWeb’s chief of government, regulation and engagement. The failure was disclosed in a OneWeb financial report filed Nov. 17. That report noted OneWeb has deployed 358 satellites at 1,200 kilometers through 11 launches, “with loss of only one satellite to date.” Mclaughlin said the failure of OneWeb’s SL41 satellite resulted from “a software issue right at the end of the Orbit raise.” That software issue has since been fixed from the ground for the other satellites in the operator’s growing network, a OneWeb official added. The failed satellite, according to an industry source, was one of 34 launched Feb. 6, 2020, from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. OneWeb’s satellites are being built in Florida by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture with Airbus Defence and Space. OneWeb has a partnership formed earlier this year with debris-removal startup Astroscale under ESA’s Sunrise program, which awarded OneWeb and Astroscale funding in May for a satellite to demonstrate technologies including space junk removal. The OneWeb official added: “We are working with ESA Sunrise and, by extension, Astroscale and others to determine how best to remove a failed satellite when technology permits. It’s very early days.”

The loss of a single satellite is not critical in a megaconstellation like OneWeb’s with built-in redundancy. OneWeb plans to deploy nearly 650 satellites by the time it rolls out global broadband services next year.

“OneWeb’s network is designed for global coverage with redundancy planned for and built into the network,” the OneWeb official said via email.

“OneWeb can offer global coverage with 588 satellites however plans for redundancy with 50+ spares.”

The U.K.-headquartered startup has an insurance policy worth more than $1 billion that covers its satellite launches, which typically deploy 36 satellites at a time. However, the policy only spans the launch phase of the constellation’s deployment, and does not cover in-orbit failures.

SpaceX, which has claimed to have an in-orbit failure rate of less than 1% (although competitor Viasat disputes that), has also decided it has enough redundancy in its Starlink broadband megaconstellation that it does not need to insure in-orbit operations against satellite failures.

Potential mission

In October, the UK Space Agency awarded Astroscale and Swiss startup ClearSpace contracts totaling $1 million to study a mission to remove two spacecraft from LEO by 2025.

Astroscale and ClearSpace are allowed to pick which two spacecraft to remove, as long as they were sent to orbit under a U.K. license.

It is too early to say whether the failed OneWeb satellite will be a part of a mission that could follow these study contracts, an Astroscale official said.

Following the Phase 0 and A study phases there will most likely be two further phases to refine the mission design with parallel phase B contracts with a detailed concept of operations, costings, manufacturing proposals, and timelines, according to John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale’s U.K. subsidiary.

A final selection will identify the lead industry prime and partners that will develop the mission planned for a 2025 launch.

“We very much hope the UK government will be able to provide a substantial proportion of the mission funds, secured during the ongoing government comprehensive spending review (CSR),” Auburn said in an email.

“This mission is a fantastic opportunity for the UK government to demonstrate leadership in space sustainability and provide vital funding and licencing support for this innovative debris removal mission.”

Astra says focus is on launch as it files application for satellite constellation

A week after a filing an application with the Federal Communications Commission for a constellation of more than 13,000 satellites, Astra Space executives said that their near-term focus remains on developing their launch capabilities. Astra released its third quarter financial results Nov. 11, showing an adjusted net loss of $34.5 million for the quarter and $72.4 million for the year to date. In the earnings call about the results, though, much of the attention was on the filing the company made with the FCC Nov. 4 to develop a constellation of 13,620 satellites operating in V-band. Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, said the filing was driven by the near-term opportunity offered by the FCC to request V-band spectrum, with a Nov. 4 deadline for filing applications. Astra was one of several companies submitting applications for tens of thousands of potential satellites, although its application has the largest single number of satellites. “Spectrum is incredibly hard to get. It’s incredibly valuable,” he said. “In the not-too-distant future, the demand for spectrum access will significantly outstrip supply. This view of spectrum is what motivated us to file the V-band spectrum application to prepare Astra for its next stage of growth.” Kemp also emphasized the three-phase approach to the proposal, which would start with a single equatorial plane of 40 satellites. “That provides a service that we believe has real value to customers in phase one,” he said. “We can deploy a basic service that allows us to learn and iterate.”

A second phase would place 2,296 satellites into orbit to provide global service, with a third phase involving an additional 11,284 satellites for additional capacity. Those future phases, he said, would depend on customer demand. “We can deploy that constellation, frankly, as we start to see traction with those space services,” he said. “There’s no requirement that we deploy we deploy those 13,000 satellites, but in the license we have to contemplate the full deployment of the entire constellation.”

Kemp didn’t give a schedule for developing the constellation. It may take several years for the FCC to review and approve this latest series of V-band applications. The FCC approved a Boeing proposal for a 147-satellite V-band constellation Nov. 3 nearly five years after the company filed its proposal. One approved, the company would have six years to deploy half the constellation and nine years for the entire fleet.

He insisted the company’s near-term focus is on its small launch vehicles. The latest Rocket 3.3 vehicle, with the serial number LV0007, is currently on Kodiak Island, Alaska, for an upcoming launch for the U.S. Space Force. That launch was expected for earlier this month, but Kemp said he expected it to occur “in the next week or so.” The Federal Aviation Administration has airspace restrictions in place for the launch Nov. 14 and 15 as well as Nov. 19 and 20.

“Our focus right now is on delivering a satellite to orbit so that we can begin to deliver for our customers on the launch services contracts that we have, and be recognizing revenue in our launch services business,” he said. The FCC filing is among what he called the “long-lead items” for developing satellites that can launch on its rockets to provide services.

Astra has yet to place a payload into orbit, having failed on three orbital launch attempts dating back to September 2020. The most recent launch attempt on Aug. 28 failed because of a problem with quick-disconnect system for fuel lines leading into the rocket that caused one of the first stage’s five engines to shut down less than a second after liftoff.

Kemp praised his employees and Astra’s partnership with the FAA to quickly investigate the issue and prepare for this launch. “Developing an orbital launch system is incredibly difficult,” he said. “While we can’t guarantee that the current test flight will be successful, we strongly believe that launching again with the changes that we just made is the fastest and most capital-efficient path to success.”

If the LV0007 launch is successful, Kemp said the company could perform its next launch before the end of the year. That vehicle, LV0008, is nearing completion, while work is underway on the next two vehicles, LV0009 and LV0010.