OneWeb, now part of the French operator Eutelsat, runs an internet constellation of several hundred satellites. They fly higher than Starlink, about 1,200 km up, on orbits that pass close to the poles, arranged in a dozen rings that cover the whole globe, including the Arctic. Each orbit takes a little under two hours. OneWeb mostly sells its connection to companies, governments, ships and planes rather than to homes. In the 3D view, notice how the rings all cross above the poles, unlike Starlink’s orbits, which are mostly tilted about 53° and leave the polar regions to a few dedicated shells.
How many OneWeb satellites are in orbit?
Computing…
Questions and answers
Who owns OneWeb?
Eutelsat, a European satellite operator based in France, merged with OneWeb in 2023 (Eutelsat OneWeb).
Why polar orbits?
An orbit passing over the poles sees every latitude as the Earth turns beneath it, so the constellation covers the whole planet.
Where the numbers come from
Values refresh every second in your browser; the published data are checked every 10 minutes and updated several times a day.