Eutelsat OneWeb takes stepwise approach to Gen 2 LEO network

As Eutelsat Group starts defining its plans for Eutelsat OneWeb Gen 2, the satellite operator has reiterated its commitment to ‘first and foremost’ ensuring both compatibility and continuity of services for current customers of its Low Earth Orbit services, as supported by the Gen 1 LEO network of 648 operational Ku-band satellites.

“As you know, we’ve had the RFP out for about a year now and have had a couple of teams working in a co-engineering approach to exactly draft what is the relevant timeline for bringing on board new technologies and how do we ensure the continuity of services and compatibility of services from our current constellation in a stepwise approach to the next,” Eutelsat Group CEO Eva Berneke said during the firm’s FY2023/2024 earnings conference call.

Eutelsat completed its acquisition of OneWeb last year. In 2025, it expects to complete that business integration and shape the future of the nextgen Eutelsat OneWeb LEO constellation.

Some important Gen 2 work is already underway. Last year, a beam-hopping satellite — nicknamed JoeySat after a baby kangaroo — was launched under the Sunrise Partnership Project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and OneWeb with support from the UK Space Agency. The goal is to demonstrate key technologies for Eutelsat’s OneWeb’s nextgen plan.

As it enters its next fiscal year, Eutelsat Group is eyeing certain new elements of LEO technology that are “fully mature”, noted Berneke on the call, and the firm is embarking on a journey to completing “one or several partnerships in the market”.

Europe’s IRIS² project — the European Union’s planned multi-orbit constellation that will combine the benefits offered by LEO, Geostationary (GEO), and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites to provide secure communication services — “could be one” partnership, said Berneke.

But there are other dialogues around partnerships in the market, she said. “And as you see, more and more of our customers — just like with Intelsat — also ask us to be part of the roadmap going forward because they see our LEO connectivity capacity to be integrated in their offering. So, some of those partnerships we’re exploring quite extensively, and we see ourselves as a very good platform for those kinds of partnerships, be it IRIS² or alternatives where we actually build a joint technology roadmap for bringing mature technologies, or more mature technologies, to the market once they get there.”

Inflight connectivity is among the mobility services that will be supported by Eutelsat OneWeb’s current LEO constellation, and many stakeholders in the sector are excited about the prospects of a Gen 2 network.

But in the near-term, Gen 1 LEO-powered service in commercial aviation is expected to go live before year-end (or sooner) as part of Intelsat’s multi-orbit LEO/GEO IFC solution, which has attracted several airline customers. In business aviation, Gogo recently told RGN that guidance from the satellite operator sees Eutelsat OneWeb business aviation services, specifically, “slated to be officially live for operators starting Jan. 1, 2025”.

Fully global LEO service from Eutelsat OneWeb will not be available until the spring, however. During the earnings call, Berneke said the previously reported ground infrastructure delay is still “the main delay for the full operational growth coming out of the LEO services”.

In terms of when to expect global coverage, she said: “[W]e expect the ground infrastructure… of OneWeb will be completed during the spring of ‘25 with the last five, eight gateways which are some of the tougher ones — in some of the quite tough geographies — and also of course market access in order to, during the spring next year, have the full global coverage. So that operational ramp-up is on track.”

The company also announced it has entered into exclusive negotiations for the carve-out and partial sale of its passive ground segment infrastructure assets.

Related Articles: