OneWeb Opens Pilot Satellite Manufacturing Plant With Airbus

OneWeb Satellites -- a joint OneWeb/Airbus venture -- cut the ribbon on its satellite assembly line in Toulouse, France, it said in a news release Tuesday. OneWeb Satellites said its pipeline of work includes 900 satellites for OneWeb's planned low earth orbit constellation, and the Toulouse facility will be used to validate the production methods for the larger OneWeb Satellites high-volume production facility in Florida (see 1612190060). It said the initial 10 Toulouse-built satellites will be the start of OneWeb's constellation, with the first launches to take place in 2018.