SpaceX - Falcon 9 - One Web #17 - SLC-40 - CCSFS - March 9, 2023

The lift-off is scheduled for March 9, 2:13 p.m. ET (19:13 UTC/GMT, 20:13 CET) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.

The 17th flight was dedicated to the OneWeb high-speed Internet constellation. The initial constellation consists of 648 satellites. Later, depending on demand, the constellation could be expanded to more than 900 satellites. OneWeb is expected to begin customer demonstrations in 2022, then provide a global, 24-hour service in 2022/23.

Each satellite in the installation weighs 147,7 kg. They are powered by Russian ion engines manufactured by OKB-Fakel and have two solar panels for their power supply. The first generation of satellites, operating on a quasi-polar orbit (1,200 km x 86,4 degrees), cannot perform inter-satellite communication and can only be used near a ground relay station.

The satellites will provide user service in the Ku-band, communicating in the microwave range of frequencies in the 12.18 GHz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The satellites use a technique called "progressive pitch", in which the satellites are slightly turned to avoid interference with Ku-band satellites in geostationary orbit. The user terminal antenna measures approximately 36 x 16 cm and will provide internet access at 50 MB/s downlink bandwidth (almost certainly less uplink, but this number remains hard to pin down).

The satellites will be designed to comply with orbital debris-mitigation guidelines for removing satellites from orbit and, for low-orbit satellites, assuring that they reenter the Earth's atmosphere within 25 years of retirement.

In the wake of the European sanctions because of the Russian war against Ukraine, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin announced the suspension of the OneWeb launch campaigns with the help of Arianespace and its Russian affiliate Starsem to lift off the satellites with a Soyuz launcher from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Vostochny Cosmodrome or even the Guiana Space Center in South America. This situation will last as long as "there are no guarantees that this system will be used only for civilian purposes".

Roscosmos gave an ultimatum to One Web, stating that this guarantee must be confirmed before March 4, 2022; otherwise, the satellites and the launcher will be returned to the assembly building and dissembled. OneWeb declared in response to suspend all launches with Soyuz. On March 21, 2022, OneWeb announced that its future launches will be performed by SpaceX and the Indian Space Agency ISRO 2022.