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SpaceX’s Starlink space internet gets new competitor with OneWeb satellite launch

A Soyuz 2 rocket lifts off with OneWeb's first six satellites on February 27th. (Arianespace)

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The most viable competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink Internet constellation has completed a demonstration launch, placing the first six OneWeb satellites in a circular orbit 1000 km (620 mi) above Earth.

Designed as a constellation of approximately 650-900 satellites, OneWeb aims to provide uninterrupted Internet access across the world with a focus on affordability for those living without a basic communications infrastructure. Assuming OneWeb’s first six spacecraft operate nominally in orbit, the first phase of the company’s constellation could be completed by late 2020 or early 2021, leading to initial operations with customers actually able to access the internet through their spacecraft.

Compared to OneWeb, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation (even in its earliest phases) is dramatically more expansive, featuring anywhere from 2-7x as many spacecraft and an overall bandwidth that is likely even greater still. As a partial consequence, Starlink spacecraft will likely be more complex and expensive to mass-produce and operate. Combined with optical (laser) interlinks that could make Starlink truly revolutionary, it remains to be seen whether the costs of high-tech solutions can be outweighed by their intrinsic benefits.

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Thanks to the relative simplicity and lower mass of OneWeb’s spacecraft, as well as a partnership with industry heavyweight Airbus Defence and Space and the partial completion of a Florida-based satellite factory, OneWeb undeniably has several steps up on SpaceX, at least with respect to the goal of reaching initial commercial operations as quickly as possible. SpaceX has already gained experience operating its first two demonstration satellites – known as Tintin A and B – for a full year on-orbit, but all that is known Starlink’s first operational launches is that CEO Elon Musk is dead-set on commencing deployment no later than June 2019. Meanwhile, the status of SpaceX’s production facilities is unclear, with two mid-sized buildings in Redmond, Washington known to be dedicated to the program.

An array of job posts and brief hints from primary and secondary sources indicate that the Starlink program is already heavily focused on ramping up spacecraft production after several years of development. It’s unclear if a planned second set of prototype satellites is still on the books, hinted at by Musk in the months after the first pair’s February 2018 launch debut.

 

Aside from the satellites themselves, prospective global internet constellation operators must face the equally critical and challenging task of developing a simultaneously high-performance and low-cost user terminal, the antenna and associated electronics that turn spacecraft signals into an accessible and reliable internet connection. SpaceX’s work in this direction has been silent, while OneWeb founder Greg Wyler recently began teasing and describing the company’s own work in that direction, hinting that his team has already arrived at a $15 antenna prototype capable of supporting 20-60 Mbps (megabits per second).

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Meanwhile, the hopeful success of the company’s first launch will pave the way for the first full launch of OneWeb spacecraft, potentially as many as 32-36 at once on Arianespace’s Russian Soyuz 2 launch vehicle. OneWeb has 21 launches manifested on Soyuz 2 rockets, scheduled to occur at a more or less monthly cadence between the first operational launch and the completion of Phase 1’s 650-satellite constellation. Shortly after the first launch was completed, Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël announced that it had struck a deal with OneWeb as the official customer for the first two launches of its Ariane 6 rocket, meant to debut as early as 2020.


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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Elon Musk shares updated Starship V3 maiden launch target date

The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a brief Starship V3 update in a post on social media platform X, stating the next launch attempt of the spacecraft could take place in about four weeks.

The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.

Musk’s update suggests that Starship Flight 12 could target a launch around early April, though the schedule will depend on several remaining milestones at SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in Texas.

Among the key steps is testing and certification of the site’s new launch tower, launch mount, and tank farm systems. These upgrades will support the next generation of Starship vehicles.

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Booster 19 is expected to roll to the launch site and be placed on the launch mount before returning to the production facility to receive its 33 Raptor engines. The booster would then return for a static fire test, which could mark the first time a Super Heavy booster equipped with Raptor V3 engines is fired on the pad.

Ship 39 is expected to undergo a similar preparation process. The vehicle will likely return to the production site to receive its six engines before heading to Massey’s test site for static fire testing.

Once both stages are prepared, the booster and ship will roll out to the launch site for the first full stack of a V3 Super Heavy and V3 Starship. A full wet dress rehearsal is expected to follow before any launch attempt.

Elon Musk has previously shared how SpaceX plans to eventually recover Starship’s upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms. Musk noted that the company will only attempt to catch the Starship spacecraft after two successful soft landings in the ocean. The approach is intended to reduce risk before attempting a recovery over land.

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“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Such a milestone would represent a major step toward the full reuse of the Starship system, which remains a central goal for SpaceX’s long-term launch strategy.

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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell details xAI power pledge at White House event

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

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Credit: xAI

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated that xAI will develop 1.2 gigawatts of power at its Memphis-area AI supercomputer site as part of the White House’s new “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” 

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

During the White House event, Shotwell stated that xAI’s AI data center near Memphis would include a major energy installation designed to support the facility’s power needs.

“As you know, xAI builds huge supercomputers and data centers and we build them fast. Currently, we’re building one on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. As part of today’s commitment, we will take extensive additional steps to continue to reduce the costs of electricity for our neighbors… 

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“xAI will therefore commit to develop 1.2 GW of power as our supercomputer’s primary power source. That will be for every additional data center as well. We will expand what is already the largest global Megapack power installation in the world,” Shotwell said.

She added that the system would provide significant backup power capacity.

“The installation will provide enough backup power to power the city of Memphis, and more than sufficient energy to power the town of Southaven, Mississippi where the data center resides. We will build new substations and invest in electrical infrastructure to provide stability to the area’s grid.”

Shotwell also noted that xAI will be supporting the area’s water supply as well. 

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“We haven’t talked about it yet, but this is actually quite important. We will build state-of-the-art water recycling plants that will protect approximately 4.7 billion gallons of water from the Memphis aquifer each year. And we will employ thousands of American workers from around the city of Memphis on both sides of the TN-MS border,” she noted. 

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge was introduced as part of the federal government’s effort to address concerns about rising electricity costs tied to large AI data centers, as noted in an Insider report. Under the agreement, companies developing major AI infrastructure projects committed to covering their own power generation needs and avoiding additional costs for local ratepayers.

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SpaceX to launch Starlink V2 satellites on Starship starting 2027

The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls.

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is looking to start launching its next-generation Starlink V2 satellites in mid-2027 using Starship.

The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls during remarks at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.

“With Starship, we’ll be able to deploy the constellation very quickly,” Nicolls stated. “Our goal is to deploy a constellation capable of providing global and contiguous coverage within six months, and that’s roughly 1,200 satellites.”

Nicolls added that once Starship is operational, it will be capable of launching approximately 50 of the larger, more powerful Starlink satellites at a time, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.

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The initial deployment of roughly 1,200 next-generation satellites is intended to establish global and contiguous coverage. After that phase, SpaceX plans to continue expanding the system to reach “truly global coverage, including the polar regions,” Nicolls said.

Currently, all Starlink satellites are launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The next-generation fleet will rely on Starship, which remains in development following a series of test flights in 2025. SpaceX is targeting its next Starship test flight, featuring an upgraded version of the rocket, as soon as this month.

Starlink is currently the largest satellite network in orbit, with nearly 10,000 satellites deployed. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the business could generate approximately $9 billion in revenue for SpaceX in 2026.

Nicolls also confirmed that SpaceX is rebranding its direct-to-cell service as Starlink Mobile.

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The service currently operates with 650 satellites capable of connecting directly to smartphones and has approximately 10 million monthly active users. SpaceX expects that figure to exceed 25 million monthly active users by the end of 2026.

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