Keeping the Space dream alive thanks to Airbus OneWeb Satellites [fr]
Continuing our series on space cooperation between France and the United States, we have interviewed James Hinds, CEO of Airbus OneWeb Satellites (a Airbus-OneWeb joint-venture created in 2015).
1- A real technological marriage
As Mr. Hinds states it, France, Europe and the United-States have developed "a real marriage trying to achieve the best of capabilities while trying to pioneer the desire to challenge the paradigm of how space vehicles are built and prepared in Florida, with the foundation that is in France."
Indeed, it all started in Toulouse, in Southern France, with a first satellite prototype of a new generation: much lighter than its peers!
2- An innovative model
Afterwards, 6 satellite-pilots were constructed and then, launched on February 27th, 2019 from the Kourou space base, in French Guiana.
The manufacturing processes were moved to Florida while the engineering team of Airbus Defense and Space and the original supply chain team stayed in Toulouse. The result is lighter satellites (circa 150 kg) and a production of 2 satellites per day at the Florida’s plant at the core of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island!
In April 2021, with the launch of 36 additional satellites, the company has now 182 satellites orbiting in lower Earth orbit!
In regard to constellations, OneWeb Satellites plans to launch its nearly 650 first-generation satellites to deliver a global broadband service by next year.
This joint-venture is surely a telling example of the longstanding collaboration between France and the United States in the field of Space Exploration and in the space industry!
3. Less space debris
As more and more satellites are orbiting space, environmentalists have highlighted the necessity to avoid space debris and to take environmental issues into account.
Generic suggestions for an environmental-friendly space include the building of space vehicles that will leave no or minimum trace.
According to Mr. Hinds building vehicles that will not easily cause debris or that will be degradable out there is one way of protecting space: at OneWeb Satellites, this is done through researching properties of different materials, for example. As OneWeb Satellites’ CEO further puts it, this challenge can be viewed similarly to building eco-friendly cars by asking the questions: how can we reduce pollution and the carbon footprint necessary to make the vehicles?
This would be translated in the aerospace industry in: How do we design a spacecraft that can be placed into orbit and ensure that we have a debris-free environment?
It is thus important to look at aspects of design such as handling of spacecraft and how to deorbit the spacecraft in order to reach these goals. Though, with the goal or having more than 650 satellites orbiting in space, individual spacecraft monitoring is not enough: Mr. Hinds rightly points out that "we must look at constellations, or groups of spacecraft to make sure they will be environmentally-friendly in space and on earth.".
*OneWeb Satellites is a 50/50 joint-venture company composed by:
Airbus, the global leader in the aerospace sector;
OneWeb, telecommunications company founded in 2012, whose goal is to provide new solutions to enable a better Internet access in territories currently not covered or in Mr. Hinds’s words to "connect the "unconnected".