Originally Posted by
Mr Mac
Sallyann 1234
Not sure if it is just me, but $500m seems a little cheap, its the price of 3-4 secondary schools, or one medium sized hospital in the UK.
Kind regards
Mr Mac
The money seems to be for part-purchase of a bankrupt satellite operator, and nothing more.
Another larger investment would be needed to complete the project as the planned communications network.
To change the system to operate on the same principles as existing GNSS would require complete replacement of all hardware both in space and on the ground, so not a wise investment from that point of view.
But I recall that when the OneWeb system was originally promoted there was a suggestion that it could have a secondary function as a positioning system. I haven't taken the trouble to read up on the theory of this - it will be on the web somewhere - but it would be totally incompatible with existing receivers and of unproven accuracy. If Boris has bought into OneWeb in the expectation of making such use of it I hope he taken much expert advice.