Following the successful launches of the first eight O3b satellites in two batches, on June 25, 2013 and July 10, 2014, Arianespace has orbited four new satellites in the O3b constellation. The 10th Soyuz launch from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, took place on Thursday, December 18 at 3:37 pm local time.
With this launch Arianespace continues to deploy the O3b satellite constellation into an equatorial circular orbit, to provide high-speed, low-cost, low-latency Internet access to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia and the Middle East. The coverage zone includes nearly 180 countries and the “Other 3 billion” (O3b) inhabitants of the planet who do not yet enjoy broadband Internet connectivity.
With the 11th launch of the year Arianespace set a new all-time record since the introduction of its family of launchers, and passes the cumulated mark of 500 satellites orbited.
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