UK Satellite Navigation System

Contains threads on equipment developed by the UK defence and aerospace industry, but not in service with the British Armed Forces.
SW1
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Posts: 5657
Joined: 27 Aug 2018, 19:12
United Kingdom

Re: UK Satellite Navigation System

Post by SW1 »

https://oneweb.net/resources/successful ... ble-global

This is OneWeb’s 18th launch, its third this year, bringing the total of OneWeb’s constellation to 618 satellites. The OneWeb constellation design calls for 588 satellites for global coverage and additional satellites are planned for resiliency and redundancy. Thanks to today’s successful launch the constellation is in place to soon deliver global services. By the year-end, OneWeb will be ready to roll out global coverage, enhancing its existing connectivity solutions that are already live in regions north of 50-degrees latitude as it brings new areas online by partnering with leading providers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65066669
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SW1
Senior Member
Posts: 5657
Joined: 27 Aug 2018, 19:12
United Kingdom

Re: UK Satellite Navigation System

Post by SW1 »

Put this here though not Uk but LEO sat tech. Real time satellite based imaging available to anyone who is willing to pay.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/b ... elligence/

BlackSky, the offshoot of a Seattle spaceflight company, spies on the world from space. Analyzing the images it collects with artificial intelligence, it delivers nearly real-time information to national security teams in the U.S. and other countries.

The images are beamed from satellites monitored from BlackSky’s operations office in South Lake Union and built in Tukwila by LeoStella, a joint venture half-owned by BlackSky.

Wall Street investors, consulting firms and major companies can also buy its economic intelligence: perhaps the size of coal stockpiles worldwide; barge shipments of commodities along the Mississippi; or the number of cargo aircraft Amazon is flying out of its main airfreight hub in Kentucky. After disasters, BlackSky images can detail the extent of damage and how relief work is progressing.

Indeed BlackSky claims no other commercial company can provide its close-to-real-time images, achieved by shooting high-resolution photos over a designated location of interest once every hour.

The big traditional satellite-makers in the U.S. are Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed. They make expensive, bus-sized satellites designed to stay in orbit 10 to 15 years.

Though there’s still a role for those specialized satellites, commercial space companies are rapidly changing the sector by launching into low Earth orbit thousands of small satellites, each costing just a few million dollars.

Impressive as the technology is, the current BlackSky satellites are up for gradual replacement over the next few years. They can only see in the light, from dawn to dusk, and only in clear weather.

Looking out the office window on a rainy, cloudy October day in Seattle, Cabellon concedes that “especially during these months, it’s hard for us to get imagery.”

Next year, BlackSky will begin launching its newly designed third-generation satellites with more capability. They’ll deliver higher-resolution images and include shortwave infrared scanning that will enable imaging at night and through clouds.

LeoStella is now testing the final second-generation BlackSky satellite and gearing up to build the new-design satellites that will replace the current constellation.


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