OneWeb, the London-headquartered tech company trying to develop a global internet service delivered from space, reaches a key milestone on Thursday.
The firm is launching another 36 satellites, taking its in-orbit mega-constellation to 254.
Although many more are needed to complete the network, this number is enough to start offering a commercial service to a great swathe of the Northern Hemisphere.
This should start at the year's end.
"These things don't happen overnight; there's been a tremendous amount of hard work taking place over the last few months. But this launch is special," said OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson.
"This is the one that gives us connectivity from 50 degrees North latitude to the North Pole, and covers Northern Europe, the UK, Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Iceland," he told BBC News.
The article is from:(full version) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57674882
