There are a lot of headlines on the press these days about the losses in the financial markets and in many businesses, due to the economic shutdown Covid-2019 imposed all over the world, but only a few discuss the impact on niche sectors. One of them is the space industry, where not only giants like Boeing are suffering. The looming recession puts pressure on the emerging startups and small and medium companies that have made the sector so dynamic in the last ten years.
An example is OneWeb, a satellite internet startup, which launched 34 satellites into orbit just last week and it is now filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“To date, the Company has successfully launched 74 satellites as part of its constellation, secured valuable global spectrum, begun development on a range of user terminals for a variety of customer markets, has half of its 44 ground stations completed or in development, and performed successful demonstrations of its system with broadband speeds in excess of 400 Mbps and latency of 32 ms. In addition, OneWeb’s commercial team has seen significant early global demand for OneWeb’s high-speed, low-latency connectivity services from governments and leaders in the automotive, maritime, enterprise, and aviation industries.” […]Since the beginning of the year, OneWeb had been engaged in advanced negotiations regarding investment that would fully fund the Company through its deployment and commercial launch. While the Company was close to obtaining financing, the process did not progress because of the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of COVID-19.” (OneWeb’s Press Release, 27 March 2020).
Hopes are that OneWeb will survive this moment. As all the other space pioneers.
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