The start-up company OneWeb, which was created using the sponsored funds of Virgin Richard Branson and Qualcomm, announced the signing of a multi-billion dollar contract with the European aerospace giant Airbus for the construction of a large number of Internet satellites.
The main goal of OneWeb is to provide all the unreached places on the planet where there is no connection to the Network. The company plans to solve this problem with the help of a real "swarm" of compact satellites. The weight of each of them will not exceed 150 kilograms, and the cost of production will not exceed $ 500,000.
Airbus has signed a contract for the production of 900 satellites. Seven hundred of them should be launched by 2018 already. When all satellites eventually go into orbit, it will become the largest satellite network, which will be 10 times larger than any other satellite network currently in orbit.
The remaining 200 satellites are planned to be used to replace old ones that were out of order. The start of the program will begin in Toulouse. At the manufacturing plant, Airbus is going to build 10 first satellites there, after which the production will move to one of the American plants.
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