OneWeb has increased the number of satellites in its planned ‘mega-constellation’, sending up another 34 over the weekend.
That makes a total of 74 in orbit for the London-based start-up.
The new craft were launched via a Soyuz rocket that took off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Saturday.
OneWeb is in competition with a number of other companies including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is developing its Starlink constellation.
The aim is to provide global internet coverage from the satellites, which could provide services to locations that lack the infrastructure or are generally considered too inaccessible for traditional broadband.
OneWeb is planning on setting up a constellation of 650 individual satellites.
It had originally planned to have the entire system in orbit by the end of next year, but the coronavirus may have an impact on that timeline.
OneWeb’s CEO Adrian Steckel said in a statement: ‘In these unprecedented times following the global outbreak of Covid-19, people around the world find themselves trying to continue their lives and work online.
‘We see the need for OneWeb, greater now more than ever before.
‘High-quality connectivity is the lifeline to enabling people to work, continue their education, stay up to date on important healthcare information and stay meaningfully connected to one another.’
Coronavirus having an impact on connectivity and other space projects
Steckel said that the ongoing pandemic had ‘exposed urgent shortcomings’ in the connectivity capabilities that many organisations relied on and added that OneWeb’s network was poised to fill in the gaps.
The coronavirus is certainly having a knock-on effect on other planned space missions and launches.
NASA announced at the end of last week that it was suspending the production and testing of its Moon rocket and capsules.
The administration had been aiming to take a new human crew to the Moon in 2024.
Some commentators felt that this was already an ambitious deadline, but it now looks increasingly unlikely.
The BBC reported that the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi had one confirmed case of coronavirus among staff as of Friday 20th March.
The Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana had no confirmed cases, but there was a growing infection rate in the communities surrounding both facilities.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said that the health of staff had to be the top priority and that they were now working to leave the hardware in a safe condition until work could be resumed.
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