‘We’ve Bought the Wrong Satellites’: UK Investment In OneWeb Baffles Experts

AmiMoJo writes: “The UK government’s plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a satellite broadband company has been described as ‘nonsensical’ by experts, who say the company doesn’t even make the right type of satellite the country needs after Brexit,” reports The Guardian. “The investment in OneWeb is intended to mitigate against the UK losing access to the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system. But OneWeb — in which the UK will own a 20% stake following the investment — currently operates a completely different type of satellite network from that typically used to run such navigation systems.” OneWeb is building a global satellite internet delivery platform similar to Starlink, and plans to piggyback a British navigation system on the satellites. But the satellites will be in low Earth orbit at 12,000km altitude, compared to other navigation systems at 20,000km. “The fundamental starting point is, yes, we’ve bought the wrong satellites,” said Dr Bleddyn Bowen, a space policy expert at the University of Leicester. “It’s bolting an unproven technology on to a mega-constellation that’s designed to do something else. It’s a tech and business gamble.” OneWeb filed for bankruptcy in March.