OneWeb Announcement Follows The Next Day
Eutelsat Communications announced at the Satellite 2017 Convention in Washington D.C. the conclusion of a contract with Blue Origin for a launch on the New Glenn rocket that is expected to initiate flights in 2020.
The new partnership with Blue Origin reflects Eutelsat’s longstanding strategy to source launch services from multiple agencies in order to secure access to space and partner with launch agencies that combine the highest levels of performance, flexibility and competitiveness.
The agreement with Blue Origin covers the launch of a geostationary satellite in the 2021-2022 timeframe. The New Glenn launcher will be compatible with virtually all Eutelsat satellites, giving flexibility to allocate the mission 12 months ahead of launch.
Rodolphe Belmer, Eutelsat CEO, commented on the new relationship with Blue Origin: “Blue Origin has been forthcoming with Eutelsat on its strategy and convinced us they have the right mindset to compete in the launch service industry. Their solid engineering approach, and their policy to develop technologies that will form the base of a broad generation of launchers, corresponds to what we expect from our industrial partners. In including New Glenn in our manifest we are pursuing our longstanding strategy of innovation that drives down the cost of access to space and drives up performance. This can only be good news for the profitability and sustainability of our industry.”
“Eutelsat is one of the world’s most experienced and innovative satellite operators, and we are honoured that they chose Blue Origin and our New Glenn orbital launch vehicle,” said Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin founder. “Eutelsat has launched satellites on many new vehicles and shares both our methodical approach to engineering and our passion for driving down the cost of access to space. Welcome to the launch manifest, Eutelsat, can’t wait to fly together.”
The next day, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos announced that the company had inked a deal with OneWeb, which has plans to send potentially thousands of small satellites into orbit beginning as early as next year. GeekWire reports that Bezos said Blue Origin will provide five launches aboard New Glenn beginning in 2021. Those five launches could carry as many as 400 satellites for OneWeb.
OneWeb plans to build a manufacturing facility on Florida's Space Coast near the site where Blue Origin will assemble the New Glenn rockets. The Blue Origin facility is expected to be completed later this year, and Bezos said launches of the larger booster should begin in 2020.
(Image provided by Blue Origin)
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