OneWeb is the world's second operational low-Earth-orbit broadband network — 648 satellites flying in near-polar orbit at 1,200 km, operated by the Eutelsat Group. Unlike Starlink it targets business, maritime, aviation and government users, with particularly strong coverage at high latitudes. OrbitalNodes tracks every OneWeb satellite in real time.
OrbitalNodes' constellation counter shows how many OneWeb satellites are above your horizon right now and how many are in good viewing position. Because OneWeb flies near-polar at high altitude, its passes look slower and fainter than Starlink's — and the count is densest the further you are from the equator.
OneWeb is the only network besides Starlink to have finished building an operational low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation — but it got there the hard way. The project was founded in 2012 by Greg Wyler as WorldVu Satellites, with a plan to blanket the planet in connectivity from a fleet of small satellites flying far higher than SpaceX would later choose. Backers included SoftBank, Airbus, Qualcomm and Virgin.
First launches began in February 2019, but in March 2020 — with only 74 satellites up — OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the pandemic froze its funding. It was rescued later that year by an unusual partnership between the UK government and India's Bharti Global, which took control and restarted launches. The recovery hit another wall in 2022 when its remaining Russian Soyuz launches were cancelled after the invasion of Ukraine; OneWeb pivoted to SpaceX and India's LVM3 to finish the job, and completed its 648-satellite first-generation constellation in 2023, declaring global coverage in 2024.
That same year OneWeb merged with French satellite operator Eutelsat, creating a combined multi-orbit company. In December 2024 and again in January 2026, Eutelsat ordered next-generation satellites from Airbus — 440 in total — to refresh the fleet as the first generation approaches its five-to-seven-year design life, with deliveries beginning in late 2026 and 5G and EU IRIS² sovereign-connectivity integration on board.
OneWeb is a low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband network operated by the Eutelsat Group. Its first-generation constellation of 648 satellites at 1,200km was completed in 2023, making it the world's second operational LEO broadband network after Starlink. Unlike Starlink's consumer focus, OneWeb sells to business, maritime, aviation and government customers, often through partners and resellers.
OneWeb operates around 648 active satellites in its completed first-generation constellation. Eutelsat has ordered 440 next-generation satellites from Airbus to progressively replace the fleet as the earliest spacecraft — launched from 2019 — approach the end of their five-to-seven-year design lives, with deliveries beginning late 2026. OrbitalNodes' live counter shows exactly how many are above your horizon right now.
Generally no. OneWeb orbits at 1,200km — more than twice Starlink's altitude — which makes its satellites faint, around magnitude 8, below the naked-eye limit even under dark skies. A telescope or good binoculars are needed to spot one. The upside is that the same high orbit makes OneWeb far less disruptive to the night sky and to astronomy than low, bright Starlink trains.
Starlink has a vast head start — 10,400+ satellites at roughly 550km serving consumers worldwide. OneWeb runs 648 satellites at 1,200km and targets the B2B market: maritime connectivity, aviation, government and defence, mobile backhaul and enterprise. Its near-polar orbit gives unusually strong high-latitude and Arctic coverage, while Starlink offers denser capacity across populated low and mid latitudes.
OneWeb is owned by the Eutelsat Group after the two merged in 2023. It was founded in 2012 as WorldVu Satellites by Greg Wyler, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 during the pandemic, and was rescued by an unusual partnership between the UK government and India's Bharti Global before completing the constellation in 2023.
OneWeb flies near-polar at about 1,200km, inclined 87.9°, across 12 orbital planes in a Walker-Star pattern. Because near-polar planes converge toward the poles, coverage is densest at high latitudes and thinnest near the equator — the opposite emphasis to most constellations, and the reason OneWeb is favoured for Arctic shipping routes, polar research and remote high-latitude sites.
OrbitalNodes fetches live TLE orbital data for every OneWeb satellite from public catalogues and propagates positions using the SGP4 algorithm — the same technique used by space agencies worldwide. The constellation counter on this page shows how many OneWeb satellites are above your local horizon right now, updating as new orbital elements are published.
Mega-constellations like OneWeb share low Earth orbit with a new arrival: the orbital mirror Earendil-1. How the crowded sky is changing — OrbitalSolar.ai →