The government previously planned to build its own Galileo replacement with the help of other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The project was suspended in May just before the publication of a feasibility study. The estimated cost had by then increased to £ 5 billion ($ 6.2 billion).
The UK Satellite Applications Catapult is working on a whitepaper that would map out a method of using the OneWeb constellation for a sav-sav system. However, some experts have suggested that hosting a GPS-style system on OneWeb satellites may not be feasible.
For one thing, the constellation is in a much lower orbit (1,200 km) than satellites for major positioning systems, such as Galileo and GPS (around 20,000 km). Since the beginning of 2019, OneWeb has launched 79 out of 650 5G satellites planned for its initial constellation.
“If you want to replace GPS with military-grade systems, where you need secure encrypted signals that are accurate to centimeters, I’m not sure you can do it on satellites as small as OneWeb,” said the University of Leicester space policy expert, Dr. Bleddyn Bowen told the guardian last week. “You are connecting unproven technology to a mega constellation designed to do something else. It is a commitment to technology and business. “
Meanwhile, Bharti owns the third largest mobile provider on the planet at Bharti Airtel, which has more than 425 million customers. OneWeb says the company provides it with a short-term business opportunity “through its presence in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where the terrain requires the use of satellite-based connectivity.”
