In its latest response to international sanctions and growing geopolitical tensions, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos has compiled a list of demands from its OneWeb client before agreeing to launch the company’s upcoming mission this week. OneWeb satellites were scheduled to take off on a Russian Soyuz rocket on March 5 in Kazakhstan, but in light of these new requirements, it seems likely that the launch will not take place.
In a video posted on Twitter, the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview that he wants assurances from OneWeb that the company’s satellites will not be used for military purposes. Roscosmos also asked the British government, which is a major shareholder in OneWeb, to sell its stake in the company. If these requirements are not met, Roscosmos says it will return the Soyuz rocket and the launch will not go according to plan.
In the last few years, OneWeb has launched its satellites exclusively on the Russian Soyuz rocket, either from French Guiana or Kazakhstan. OneWeb is building a massive mega-constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit to provide Internet coverage from space. similar to SpaceX’s Starlink system. The company launched its satellites in batches of 34 and 36 at once. This week’s launch was to launch 36 new satellites into orbit to delineate the constellation.
OneWeb has not yet responded to requests, and the company has not responded to a request for comment from On the edge in time for publication.
The British government’s demand to get rid of the sale seems impossible to comply with, which largely ensures that the launch will not take place. The British government became a major shareholder in OneWeb in 2020, investing about $ 500 million to save the company from bankruptcy. The British government has also been under pressure to cancel the launch separately in light of the Russian invasion, according to the BBC.
Roscosmos claims that the delay in the launch “will not cause economic damage” because the missile has already been built and paid for, according to the Russian state press organization TASS. OneWeb satellites will also remain at the launch site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan “until the situation is resolved,” the space organization said. Roscosmos says that if this rocket is not used to launch satellites on OneWeb, then it will be used for another flight. Meanwhile, OneWeb’s future working relationship with Roscosmos appears to be in jeopardy.
“No other vehicles for orbital satellites from the OneWeb orbital cluster are planned in the near future,” Tas wrote. “Russia is ready to fulfill its commitments, given that the foreign client provides legal guarantees,” the statement said. OneWeb planned to launch an initial constellation of 648 satellites and had a handful of launches planned for 2022 to further develop the system. So far, it has successfully launched 428 satellites.
The Baikonure starters have decided that without a flag of some countries, our rocket will look good. pic.twitter.com/jG1ohimNuX
– РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) March 2, 2022
To highlight how much Russia’s relations with other nations have deteriorated, Rogozin posted a video on Twitter showing Baikonur personnel covering the flags of the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, which were painted on the bow cone of the Soyuz rocket. carrying OneWeb Satellites. claims Rogozin that they “decided that without the flags of some countries our rocket would look more beautiful.”
The conditional launch is another way in which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has a secondary effect on space partnerships. Due to European sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion, Roscosmos announced that it was stopping the launch of its rockets from Europe’s main spaceport in French Guiana and removing Russian personnel from the area. The European Space Agency has also announced that its joint rover with Russia is unlikely to launch this year, as planned, in light of current events on Earth.
Updated March 2, 10:50 AM ET: This article has been updated to include a new tweet from Dmitry Rogozin.