Press Release

No collision risk from GMS-T satellite

Bremen, 2021 January 29. The space technology group OHB SE does not see any risk to OneWeb satellites from OHB’s GMS-T satellite as recently presented to the public by representatives of OneWeb.

“The orbit of the GMS-T satellite at an altitude of 1.200 kilometres, inclination angle 90 degrees, is in accordance with the ITU filing for a certain constellation, filed by Thales Alenia Space. The purpose of the mission is to secure the frequency filing for this future constellation. This ‘bringing into use’ is a standard procedure for all constellations”, said Lutz Bertling, OHB SE Management Board Member responsible for digitalisation, strategy and business development. “There was no exchange on this subject with OneWeb prior to the launch and deployment of the satellite in this specified orbit. The reason is simple: OHB had no reason to believe that there might be a potential collision risk on this orbit. This risk still does not exist, as analyses by OHB and One Web confirm. However, due to the drift of the satellite, a collision risk, albeit very small, could arise in about two months. This will be eliminated by a coordinated effort between OHB and OneWeb.”

The GMS-T satellite has an on-board propulsion system, and it is part of the GMS-T mission to use this propulsion system both to support collision-avoidance manoeuvres and to perform the final de-orbiting at the end of the lifetime of the satellite.

Contact for media representatives: 

Marianne Radel
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 421 2020 9159
Email: marianne.radel@ohb.de

Contact for investors and analysts: 

Marcel Dietz
Investor Relations
Phone: +49 421 2020 6426
Email: ir@ohb.de