Hello readers! I’ll skip the pleasantries and go straight to the good part: I’ve finished writing the OneWeb book!

After three years of interviewing people, drafting outlines, and writing the story, the manuscript is officially handed in to Columbia University Press. The manuscript weighed in at a little more than 120,000 words, which should equate to a ~450 page book.

So what’s next? We’re aiming for a late 2027 release, but there are several steps to reach that point. Here’s what follows:

• Peer review. Columbia University Press has shared the manuscript with experts of its choosing that are currently peer reviewing the manuscript. As an academic publisher, CUP requires this step for its books.

• Editorial review. After the peer review, the manuscript will undergo a period of deep editorial checks to make sure the final product comes out without typos or mistakes.

• Design and typesetting. From here, the manuscript gets a cover, font, and other stylistic elements — effectively transforming a long Word document into a physical book.

Those steps will take the rest of the year and continue into 2027 to complete. Then there’s a list of additional tasks (marketing, production, distribution) before the book is officially ready to launch. I’ll add the usual caveat that while I’m excited for a late 2027 release, I won’t have a firm date until the aforementioned steps are finished.

What am I up to now? Besides work, my wife and I bought our first house this spring(!!), and are busy learning the ropes of home ownership. I’m doing more baking, having decided that I must learn how to make the perfect pound cake. And I’m playing some videogames I put off to write the book, including Helldivers 2, Outer Worlds 2, and soon, my beloved, Halo Campaign Evolved (I have no plans to travel to space, but enjoy traipsing through fictional universes in various space suits and combat skins).

From this point on, the book’s schedule is not really something I can control. And as this is my first book, I’m sure there will be bumps and surprises along the way. But I’m excited that the finish line is coming into view.

When I have more news, I’ll continue to post it here on the Substack blog. Until then, here are a few significant digits from the process of creating Web of Ambitions.

• 261. The number of sources interviewed for the book. Most were interviewed in the first two years. Key sources interviewed include Greg Wyler, Richard Branson, Paul Jacobs, Stéphane Israël, and Sunil Bharti Mittal.

• 448. The number of interviews performed (sources were interviewed anywhere from one to six times, with the average being twice). This excludes emailed questions and written responses. Played together, interview audio could stream continuously for more than two weeks straight.

• 47. All the places called for interviews, counting 27 countries, 18 U.S. states, and two territories. The vast majority were conducted over video calls, with a handful occurring in person across the U.S. and France.

Thanks for reading!

Hello readers,

Thanks as always for following along with my progress writing the OneWeb book. Writing is progressing smoothly, but I wanted to take a moment to address last week’s discovery of OneWeb founder Greg Wyler’s connection to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Many of you have reached out to alert me of this discovery, and I’m aware their relationship has become a subject of discussion among former OneWeb employees. I am in the process of reviewing the 200+ emails between Wyler and Epstein, and will read every single one as part of my book research.

Wyler, on X, said his interactions with Epstein “at all times were professional,” and that “Based on what I have learned I do hope for justice.” Epstein was charged in July 2019 of sex trafficking minors; he committed suicide a month later in prison.

To my surprise – after three years of research, more than 250 people interviewed, and lots of spilled tea – at no point until the U.S. Justice Department released the files, was I made aware of the connection between Wyler and Epstein. During his time at OneWeb, I do know Wyler did much of his investor courting separately from OneWeb’s executive team, often to the distress of said executives who were left out of the loop.

One interesting detail revealed through the files was that Epstein warned against Wyler negotiating on a solo basis with Google in 2014. The Epstein files shed light on the negotiations that resulted in OneWeb’s spinout from Google and entanglement with Musk.

Fortunately for the book, the Google history is one of the last remaining parts I have yet to write, meaning the files won’t generate a large amount of rework.

While Wyler is a significant part of OneWeb’s history, the story of the constellation is much larger than him. I anticipate the disclosures made in the Epstein files will constitute a very small portion of the book, with the primary focus being the efforts of thousands of people to create a satellite megaconstellation.

Since the last update three months ago, I’ve written an additional 15,000 words, bringing the total manuscript length to 105,000 words. I estimate the book manuscript is 90% complete, with the remaining 10% progressing over the next few months.

Stay tuned!

Hello readers!

To my American audience, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I’m grateful that you’ve set aside some time to follow my journey writing this book. This update includes three notable developments.

First, I’ve now interviewed more than 250 sources for the book – that’s 25 more than the last update, and well past my initial target of just 100(!). The additional interviews were mainly split into four categories:

• JoeySat. I wanted to learn more about the history of OneWeb’s high-tech demonstrator and its influence on planning for the Gen-2 constellation.

• The British government perspective. Getting ahold of HMG sources took longer than expected, but new interviews shed light on OneWeb’s relationship with the British government after it became a shareholder.

• The French side of the AOS JV. It became clear to me from early feedback that the French contribution to the JV remained underrepresented, prompting additional homework.

• Rwanda and O3b. A few new sources popped up that added depth to founder Greg Wyler’s early history in telecom and how the seed got planted for what later became OneWeb.

I’m really pleased with this body of research. This 250 sources represents approximately 430 hours of interview content, equal to listening to people talk about OneWeb 24/7 for 18 days straight. Calls were made from 26 countries, representing every inhabited continent, over the course of two years. I appreciate everyone who made time to talk with me, sharing stories that ran the gamut from insightful to funny to sad to inspiring.

I’ve said it before, but I really mean it this time, that my focus is now very heavily on writing. The new 25 sources help structure the beginning and the end sections of the book (two parts that still need to be written), and firm up middle sections that needed more work. Save for a very small number of remaining interviews, my book time is spent writing the manuscript.

Second, the middle tranche of the manuscript has now been submitted to my editor at Columbia University Press for initial review. This section covers about 3.5 years of history, from when Adrian Steckel became CEO in late 2018, through to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Submitting the draft manuscript in chunks helps speed up the timeline to final publication, and I’m grateful to CUP for working flexibly with me on this goal.

Third, I’ve begun writing the last 25% of the manuscript. So far, 90,000 of an anticipated 120,000 words are written. I’ve modestly revised my outline to ensure I can capture the remaining important story points (OneWeb’s founding and initial time at Google, its merger with Eutelsat, launches with ISRO and SpaceX, etc.) within my remaining 30,000-word budget. Keeping the book at or slightly under 120,000 words would put it around the length of Eric Berger’s Reentry (a great book), which was 450 pages.

Barring any disruptions, I’m on track to finish the draft manuscript in the next six to seven months, after which the focus will shift to editing and publication. CUP and I will work together to identify a publication date. I’m very excited to have entered the home stretch of writing!

Hello readers! The past few months produced a pair of positive developments for Web of Ambitions, aka the OneWeb book.

First, some editing news. After partnering with Columbia University Press (CUP) to publish the book, I sent my editor the first ~40,000-word chunk of the manuscript, equal to a third of the total anticipated length. By editing in chunks, I can write simultaneously, rather than waiting to start the editing process at the end. Running these efforts in parallel should accelerate the timeline to getting Web of Ambitions into readers’ hands.

I’m excited to share that the first portion of the book has completed its editorial review. The process yielded a few ways to improve my writing, but was overall positive, and gives me confidence in the narrative style employed, as well as the book’s readability. That first section covers from mid-2014, when Greg Wyler and Elon Musk were working together on a satellite constellation, through to mid-2018 when Adrian Steckel became OneWeb’s chief executive.

Second, I’ve now completed a rough draft of the next 40,000 words, meaning two thirds of the total book is now written. This section covers several key moments, including the first launch of OneWeb satellites and the company’s journey through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, through to the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War. It also includes deep dives into OneWeb’s pursuit of affordable user terminals, the operationalization of the Florida satellite megafactory with Airbus, and construction of the first gateways. I plan to spend the next month or two cleaning up that rough draft before sending it to CUP for a formal edit.

That leaves the last 40,000 words to finish the book (at least, that’s what I estimate it will take, but it may be less). This final chunk won’t be perfectly chronological: I anticipate half of it will cover the last 20 months, from the war through to Eutelsat’s acquisition of the company in late 2023, while the other half covers the backstory of Wyler and the early days of OneWeb when it was a secret project at Google.

When the full manuscript is finished, sometime in mid-2026, it will need another cover-to-cover review, but the editing work done in 2025 will help streamline that process. As an academic publisher, CUP will also put the book through a peer review process, providing an additional level of editorial rigor. Once those steps are done, the university and I will work together to establish a publication date.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this journey. I look forward to sharing this incredible piece of space industry history with you all.

Hello readers!

I’m excited to share a set of news developments regarding the OneWeb book.

First, with the help of my agent at SJGA, the OneWeb book has a publisher! Columbia University Press, the book publishing arm of NYC-based Columbia University, has purchased the rights. I’m thrilled to work with CUP to bring the book to physical and digital shelves once fully written. Special shout out to my agent Zoe Sandler who helped make this possible before stepping away to focus full time on her family.

Second, the OneWeb book has a name! CUP accepted the book under the working title “Web of Ambitions.” This title plays off the company name, the magnitude of its goals, and the challenges that came with striving to turn a vision into reality. The name was well received in spot testing with colleagues and a handful of former OneWeb employees. And while nothing is permanent until printed in ink, I plan on referring to the OneWeb book as Web of Ambitions from here on.

Third, as of May 2025, the draft manuscript for Web of Ambitions is 60% complete. I’ve written 60,000 words, bringing the long-held target of 100,000 words within striking range.

In the past, I’ve described 100,000 words as a 250-page book, but recent conversations with CUP and other writers taught me that my ratio of words to pages was off. While the typical page in a nonfiction book of this class may have 400 words, this doesn’t account for page breaks at the end of chapters, room for photos, trim sizing, and other variables.

The more accurate rule of thumb is 250-300 words per page, which means the Web of Ambitions manuscript now has 200-240 pages written, and a projected final length of 333-400 pages. That final length is comparable to books like Chris Miller’s Chip War (351 pages), astronaut Scott Kelly’s autobiography, Endurance (365 pages), or The WeWork book The Cult of We, by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell (398 pages). Note these page counts exclude sections for acknowledgements, indices, and notes.

At this point, I can’t give a specific publication date, but readers subscribed to this blog will get notified as soon as pre-orders are possible.

Lastly, an interview update. While interviews with new sources is no longer a primary goal, I have spoken to some new people since the last post, bringing the total number of sources to 225 people. Slightly over half of the new sources spoke with me on the record, meaning there’s a good chance you’ll see their names in the book. The remainder were anonymous. As is common, some of these sources spoke with me several times, bringing the cumulative number of interviews conducted to 393.

When I started this book effort two years ago, my goal was 100 sources. It’s incredible to have more than doubled that target thanks to the generosity of the people who have spoken with me both in giving their time and sharing their own connections. At this point, most interviews are planned with past sources to fact check details as I write the manuscript. My primary focus is on writing.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next update!

Welcome to my tenth update on the OneWeb book. This one is part book, part personal. Let's start with the personal. Little has been written since my last update two months ago, because I needed to shift priorities to my wedding. After nearly four years together, my fiancée and I tied the knot in late January.

My wife has been a faithful supporter of my work of this book, and recognized (earlier than me) how big of an undertaking it would be to complete. While not a space geek, she has read or listened to me read through virtually all of my manuscript to date, (and tells me what parts were interesting vs not). I hope to make her proud with the finished work.

As for the book's status, I'm pleased to start the year off with a new research milestone: 200 sources interviewed. That's double the target I set when beginning this effort in 2023.

My sources for the book, comprised mostly of former employees, investors and technology partners, span 24 countries and, across the U.S., 17 states (plus D.C.). Many have spoken with me multiple times, for a cumulative number of interviews totaling ~350.

The latest 25 sources span the whole breath of OneWeb's journey, from early employees at Google, through the SoftBank years, Chapter 11/Covid-19, to the Eutelsat merger (where the book ends in 2023). Some topics examined in greater detail include:

- How non-space employees at Google contributed to the early design, when the constellation was much bigger (and much different) than today.

- OneWeb's effort to create a low-cost user terminal, and later efforts to make user terminals in general.

- Post Chapter 11 teething issues getting the network and ground segment running.

- Customer experiences using OneWeb across multiple continents.

I’ve also received new pictures from the early days of OneWeb, such as the Lego figurine adorning the top of this post (courtesy of an early OneWeb employee). Anyone interviewed for this book is welcome to send photos that help bring the story to life.

This year should be a big one for continued progress on getting the book written and into the hands of readers. I'm happy to have the first 100 pages written and more on the way. Be on the lookout for future updates!

Hello readers!

Welcome to my ninth progress report on the creation of the OneWeb book. After shifting attention from interviewing sources to writing earlier this year, I'm pleased to share that the first 100 pages of the OneWeb book are now written. I estimate this is about a third of the book's length, though the final count will happen after review by an editor.

The writing process in some ways mirrors writing articles and writing reports. Rather than thinking of it as one gargantuan 300-page document, I've been writing in smaller 1-3-page segments. This makes wrapping my head around topics and narratives much easier, while the overarching outline guides the book to ensure a coherent flow from start to finish.

The first third that's been written starts in 2014 when Greg Wyler and Elon Musk were collaborating, through to late 2018 with the transition to Adrian Steckel as CEO. Without giving too much away, this section also includes:

- The dissolution of Wyler and Musk's friendship, and the mitosis that resulted in OneWeb and Starlink

- The early days of OneWeb inside Greg's mansion in Atherton

- How Airbus and Arianespace won two of the biggest contracts in satellite industry history

- The early days of the OneWeb-SpaceX rivalry, when OneWeb was ahead

- How Masa Son and SoftBank came to invest in OneWeb

- How financial stresses nearly (and frequently threatened to) destroy the company before it ever launched a satellite

Now that a meaningful portion of the book’s first draft is done, I’ve decided to pause writing for a month or two so I can make time to read “the story so far.” I want to make sure the narrative flows in a way that makes sense, and do other readability checks to ensure my writing is headed in the right direction. This also gives time to fact check various details, and add or trim content as appropriate.

As the author, and as someone who’s invested more than year and a half into researching this effort, it’s clear I find the inside story of OneWeb fascinating. This is history never before documented, full of ups and downs, with struggles both technologically complex and surprisingly human in the quest to connect the whole world from space. Taking time to review will ensure the story is spellbinding for readers while providing a one of a kind glimpse into what it’s like striving to create a satellite megaconstellation.

I look forward to sharing more progress updates in 2025.

During my time as a reporter, one of the things I lamented was a lack of in-depth reporting on the satellite industry. Most space coverage was about human spaceflight, rockets, and the military. All those are worthy subjects, but the majority of human-made machines in space, then and now, are satellites, specifically telecommunications satellites, and they have a huge impact on the world. 

I'm definitely biased, because my focus was always on satellites, and my fascination always the private sector. With the advent of mega constellations, journalists did turn their attention to commercial satellites, (mostly just Amazon and SpaceX, but an improvement nonetheless). What still hasn't happened yet is a second-order effect: an increase in deeply reported books on commercial satellite companies. 

Most space books are still about the aforementioned topics, or about billionaires. I would argue that Ashlee Vance’s 2023 book “When the Heavens Went on Sale” is the first modern book to cast a wider net, covering companies that aren’t run by global magnates but still have had profound impacts on the space industry. More stories like this are warranted, which is a big part of why I began writing the OneWeb book. 

I learned pretty quickly that books are far more intense of projects than news articles (which I wrote for seven years across Via Satellite and SpaceNews), and even research reports (which I’ve made for the past four years at Quilty Space). The amount of prep work is enormous. After ~16 months of effort, I’m pleased to have spoken to 175 sources for the OneWeb book – a figure that felt impossible at the beginning. These interviews, conducted mainly by phone and video calls, have stretched across 15 countries and, within the U.S., 16 states plus D.C. Counting sources I’ve spoken to more than once, the cumulative number of interviews is just over 300.

When I began studying OneWeb for a potential book, I set the goal of interviewing 100 people who worked at the company, were investors or partners. The number felt lofty, but I saw other authors reaching a similar number of sources, and decided it was a worthy target.

What I didn't account for was the flywheel effect. Nearly every person I interviewed has suggested another source (if not sources, plural) that also played a role in OneWeb’s journey. One interesting conversation begets another, and so on and so forth, and the number climbs.

Several of my latest interviews were with former employees who learned of the book when it was announced a few months ago and wanted to share their stories. These calls contributed to my knowledge of myriad parts of the OneWeb journey, including getting the launch campaigns ready, flying the satellites, the financing race pre-bankruptcy, the experience of various suppliers to Airbus OneWeb Satellites’s factory, user terminal developments, and my new favorite gateway story. 

As the chart above shows, this book is a deeply researched effort, on par with the caliber of effort from books produced by reporters at Bloomberg (Battle for the Bird), WSJ (Losing the Signal), and other respected outlets. My focus now is on writing, so I can distill hundreds of hours of research into a high-quality book that captures one of the most important stories in space industry history. As always, thanks to everyone who has helped make this effort possible so far. I’m confident it will be a great read. 

Via Satellite, a well-respected industry news outlet (and my former employer from 2013-2016) invited me to talk about the OneWeb book on their podcast, On Orbit. The ~45-minute episode covers a range of topics including:

• How I learned to write a book

• My top 3 most influential non-space books (and top 2 most influential space books, because I couldn’t help myself)

• What happens after getting an agent and the rest of the road to publication

• How the book will cover major plot points like the OneWeb’s competition with Starlink, shift away from consumer service, and future in an internet-obsessed world

You can listen here: https://www.satellitetoday.com/podcast/2024/07/08/caleb-henry-sets-out-to-catalog-the-story-of-oneweb/ 

I’ve now written more than 16,000 words, and continue to hammer away at the manuscript. Stay tuned to this blog for more milestones.

Hello to readers new and old, 

This post will be a bit different, as it’s the first I’m sharing publicly on the internet instead of just by email. I couldn’t think of a better day than May 20th, the one-year anniversary of OneWeb’s last satellite launch, to announce that a book is in the works to chronicle the company’s story. 

I’m excited to also share that my book has an agent! Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, a highly respected literary agency, is pitching the book to prospective publishers. After quietly researching OneWeb for the past year, it feels a bit surreal to see this project coming to life. 

The plan now is for a publisher to take interest in the book and help bring it to fruition. For nonfiction, this process starts with a proposal — essentially a long book report outlining details like what you plan to write about, who the target audience is, and a sample chapter. My proposal was 39 pages (double spaced) covering everything a publisher would want to know about this book. 

While I’ve written thousands of articles, this is my first ever book, so the process going forward is new to me. This blog will detail my experience going from book proposal to manuscript to published product, but to start, I’ll address the top five questions I’ve been asked during the research phase of the OneWeb book. 

FAQ:

Why are you doing this? After reflecting on the seven years I spent as a reporter (shout outs to Via Satellite and SpaceNews), there was one story I felt like I hadn’t fully explored. OneWeb was the first modern megaconstellation, and after forming in 2012, it quickly made waves across all aspects of the space industry. Investors, having finally gotten over their losses from 1990s megaconstellation business failures like Teledesic, were ready to try again. Engineers and policy makers began paying attention to what low Earth orbit (LEO) internet satellites could do. And over OneWeb’s 11-year history, the idea of LEO megaconstellations spread out around the world (Amazon’s Kuiper, SpaceX’s Starlink, Telesat Lightspeed, and others), redefining humanity’s activity in space. As the frontrunner, I wanted to examine why OneWeb had such a big impact on the industry, and what it was like to pull together one of the world’s largest ever satellite networks. 

What is the angle? The purpose of this book is to provide a historical account of OneWeb’s journey, mainly through the eyes of the people who worked at the company and its investors and partners. This is not a hit piece on OneWeb. And while the company’s rivalry with SpaceX’s Starlink does play a part in the story (especially in 2014), it is not the core focus of the book. This book, at its core, will be an objective telling of the first completed broadband megaconstellation. It will dig into the company’s feats, like building 650+ low-cost satellites, raising $6 billion from an unlikely cast of investors, and the herculean effort it took to survive getting robbed by Russia during the invasion of Ukraine. It will also examine the pitfalls that led to challenges like the Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, the dearth of user terminals at service launch, and manufacturing delays that let Starlink take the spotlight. 

Who will read it? Preserving OneWeb’s story is an important thing to do for the space industry, as few satellite operators have had their stories told in book form (I can think of three — Iridium, through Eccentric Orbits, Orbcomm through Silicon Skies, and Planet Labs through When the Heavens Went on Sale). While the space industry remains a core focus, I’m also writing so that the average person who wants to know about gargantuan, multibillion-dollar private space endeavors can also read it without having an engineering degree. My hope is that everyone from the seasoned satellite employee to the high school teen with a curiosity about startups can pick up this book. I’ll know I succeeded if my mom, who’s spent her whole 30+ year career as a nurse, can read the book and enjoy it (and not just because I’m her son). 

Did you talk to Greg Wyler? Yes. Greg and I have chatted several times for this book, as it would be impossible to tell this story without the founder himself. I’m grateful for his support and openness. I’ve also interviewed Paul Jacobs, Richard Branson, Stéphane Israël, and roughly 150 people that were involved in OneWeb’s journey. Counting people I’ve spoken to multiple times, I’ve done more than 250 cumulative interviews — enough audio to play continuously for a week and a half straight. These interviews, plus my past reporting on the company, are the core source material for the book.

When will it come out? Like most space programs, this book is a multi-year endeavor. How conversations go with publishers will have a major influence on the timeline, so stay tuned! What I can say is I’ve completed the majority of the research, and have written ~8,000 words of the manuscript — something like 9-11% of what I estimate will be the final length. I’ll keep chipping away at the writing week by week until the story is complete, and will provide a publication date as soon as I can.

For those interested in following along this journey (and hopefully picking up a copy of the book when it’s finished) I highly encourage you to subscribe to this blog. The satellite industry is going through profound changes, and lots of them can be seen through OneWeb, which was both a catalyst and an affected party in this metamorphosis. If you like space, startups, and geopolitics, this book is for you.