OneWeb files for bankruptcy
oneweb.world
OneWeb files for bankruptcy
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Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#2Wonder if space x would buy them... wonder how much of a difference between their current satellites and one webs there is...
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#3Wonder if space x would buy them... wonder how much of a difference between their current satellites and one webs there is...
Oneweb's satellites are 'bent pipes', which means they don't decode/route the data. They act like a mirror just reflecting signals back.
That used to be a great design when satellites were expected to last 30 years, and the 'bent pipe' design meant data compression, encoding, error correction and modulation could be upgraded without changing the satellite hardware.
In today's world where satellites are lower, cheaper and only last ~5 years, it makes more sense for the satellite to be able to decode and route data, which gives it a significant capacity boost for the same power and spectrum usage (since you aren't amplifying and forwarding noise). Phased arrays with hundreds or thousands of beams also don't work well with the bent pipe architecture, since cross-talk between streams is hard to reduce.
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#4Key bits; almost ready; then Corona came:
"To date, the Company has successfully launched 74 satellites as part of its constellation, secured valuable global spectrum, begun development on a range of user terminals for a variety of customer markets, has half of its 44 ground stations completed or in development, and performed successful demonstrations of its system with broadband speeds in excess of 400 Mbps and latency of 32 ms."
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#5Key bits; almost ready; then Corona came: "To date, the Company has successfully launched 74 satellites as part of its constellation, secured valuable global spectrum, begun development on a range of user terminals for a variety of customer markets, has half of its 44 ground stations completed or in development, and performed successful demonstrations of its system with broadband speeds in excess of 400 Mbps and late…
74 out of 648 required for full service...
They're 10% complete... And they are launching on Soyuz, which isn't exactly cheap when they need to do another 16 launches...
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#6Wonder if space x would buy them... wonder how much of a difference between their current satellites and one webs there is...
Oneweb's satellites are 'bent pipes', which means they don't decode/route the data. They act like a mirror just reflecting signals back. That used to be a great design when satellites were expected to last 30 years, and the 'bent pipe' design meant data compression, encoding, error correction and modulation could be upgraded without changing the satellite hardware. In today's world where satellites are lower, cheaper…
Is there a niche where they can survive? Iridium (IRDM) is still afloat, though with a lot more coverage and a solid niche.
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#7You would have thought that Iridium would have been a cautionary tale. The first company went bk in 1999, losing $6 billion, and it could only make money when the buyer bought it for $35 million and didn't have to pay for the capital assets.
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#8Key bits; almost ready; then Corona came: "To date, the Company has successfully launched 74 satellites as part of its constellation, secured valuable global spectrum, begun development on a range of user terminals for a variety of customer markets, has half of its 44 ground stations completed or in development, and performed successful demonstrations of its system with broadband speeds in excess of 400 Mbps and late…
74 out of 648 required for full service... They're 10% complete... And they are launching on Soyuz, which isn't exactly cheap when they need to do another 16 launches...
> they are launching on Soyuz, which isn't exactly cheap
Exactly. Musk started making rockets when Russia wouldn't sell them on reasonable terms. The closer OneWeb got to finishing their constellation, the higher the bids would've been.
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#9Wonder if space x would buy them... wonder how much of a difference between their current satellites and one webs there is...
Oneweb's satellites are 'bent pipes', which means they don't decode/route the data. They act like a mirror just reflecting signals back. That used to be a great design when satellites were expected to last 30 years, and the 'bent pipe' design meant data compression, encoding, error correction and modulation could be upgraded without changing the satellite hardware. In today's world where satellites are lower, cheaper…
I wonder what happens with the satellites. Are they just expected to decay?
Re: OneWeb files for bankruptcy
#10You would have thought that Iridium would have been a cautionary tale. The first company went bk in 1999, losing $6 billion, and it could only make money when the buyer bought it for $35 million and didn't have to pay for the capital assets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_Communications
Except Iridium recently launched an entire new generation of satellites to replace their old one, and it is expected to be profitable. Likewise, lots of people expect SpaceX to make a killing on Starlink.
There were good reasons to be skeptical of OneWeb, but "consumer satellite communication companies have gone bankrupt before" is not one of them.