First Batch of 32 Eutelsat OneWeb Satellites Completes Production in France

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 2, Airbus Defence and Space completed the manufacture of the first batch of 32 next-generation OneWeb low-Earth-orbit communication satellites in Toulouse, France, and delivered them to Eutelsat. The satellites are currently being prepared for transport to the United States, where SpaceX will subsequently carry out the launch mission.

These 32 satellites are the first delivery under the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation renewal program. Eutelsat currently plans to add 669 OneWeb satellites to gradually replace in-service satellites approaching the end of their design life and to maintain the operation of the existing low-Earth-orbit communication network.

The 669 additional satellites consist of 440 previously procured and 229 newly added in September. Airbus first received an order for 100 satellites in December 2024, followed by an order for 340 satellites in January 2026; on September 10, Eutelsat further authorized Airbus to begin initial industrialization work on another 229 satellites.

All next-generation OneWeb satellites are manufactured at Airbus's Toulouse production facility. The 229 satellites added in September will continue the technical configuration of previous batches and incorporate upgraded capabilities such as digital channelizers, while also reserving capacity for hosted payloads.

The existing OneWeb low-Earth-orbit network consists of more than 600 satellites operating in 12 synchronized orbital planes at an altitude of approximately 1,200 kilometers, providing low-latency broadband connectivity services to enterprise, government, and institutional customers. The new satellites will be added to the constellation in batches in line with the retirement pace of existing satellites.