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Title    OneWeb to Restart Internet Satellite Launches Using SpaceX Rockets
Date    Tuesday March 22 2022, @05:50PM
Author    janrinok
Topic   
from the 3,2,1,launch dept.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/03/21/1541224

upstart writes:

OneWeb to Restart Internet Satellite Launches Using SpaceX Rockets:

After canceling business with Russia's space program, OneWeb is tapping rival SpaceX to help it launch its remaining internet satellites into orbit.

"We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a launch agreement withSpaceX that will enable OneWeb to resume satellite launches," UK-based OneWeb announced on Twitter today. The first launch of the OneWeb satellites using SpaceX rockets is scheduled for sometime later this year, the company added.

OneWeb previously relied on Russia's Roscosmos to launch the satellites. However, the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions from Europe caused Roscosmos to essentially retaliate by postponing an upcoming launch of OneWeb satellites.

Roscosmos then demanded the UK government divest itself from OneWeb. In response, the company canceled all launches through Russia's space program.

OneWeb's contingency plan of using SpaceX is a little surprising since both companies are competing in the internet satellite market. This has resulted in some bickering amongst each other in government regulatory filings. Last year, for example, OneWeb accused SpaceX's satellite internet system of colliding with its own.

takyon writes:

SpaceX wins OneWeb launch contracts, demonstrating extreme flexibility

Demonstrating a level of flexibility that no other commercial launch provider on Earth can likely match, SpaceX and OneWeb have entered into a major launch contract barely three weeks after Russia kicked the satellite internet company off of its Soyuz rockets.

Beginning in early 2020, OneWeb has launched approximately 430 operational small internet satellites – about two-thirds of its first constellation – on a dozen different Russian Soyuz 2.1b and ST-B rockets, including a mission completed as recently as February 10th, 2022. That nominal – albeit slow – deployment ground to a violent halt alongside Russia's second unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. Within a week, extraordinary Western economic sanctions pushed the unstable head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency to retaliate by both ending the practice of European-owned Soyuz launches and holding OneWeb's 13th operational launch hostage.

Another three weeks later, outside of increasingly tense and reluctant cooperation on the International Space Station, the relationship between Russian and Western spaceflight programs has effectively ceased to exist. That includes all 6-7 of OneWeb's remaining Soyuz launch contracts, each of which the company had already paid more than $50 million for. Though OneWeb technicians were able to escape the increasingly hostile country, Russia effectively repossessed (i.e. stole) OneWeb's remaining rockets and its 13th batch of operational satellites.

That left OneWeb in an unsurprisingly precarious situation. Having already gone bankrupt once, a major delay could be financially catastrophic for the company. Normally, procuring half a dozen near-term launch contracts at the last second would be virtually impossible. Indeed, ignoring a certain US company, no other launch provider on Earth could even theoretically find or build enough capacity to launch the last third of OneWeb's constellation without at least a one or two-year delay. Luckily for OneWeb, SpaceX does exist.

Also at Space News, NYT, The Guardian, Reuters, and The Verge:

Just a few days before the launch was set to take place, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, demanded that Russia would only launch OneWeb's satellites if the company promised that the spacecraft would not be used for military purposes. Rogozin also demanded that the British government divest its entire stake in OneWeb. In 2020, the UK invested roughly $500 million in OneWeb in order to save the company from bankruptcy, and the UK government became a major shareholder along with Indian telecommunications company Bharti Global.

OneWeb and the UK refused to submit to the demands, and the company wound up suspending all further launches of its satellites from Kazakhstan. Roscosmos rolled back the Soyuz rocket carrying the 36 OneWeb satellites from its launchpad, and the satellites have yet to be returned to OneWeb. The company isn't sure what happened to the spacecraft or if they'll ever be returned. "The thing about the satellites is honestly they're the least of our problems," Chris McLaughlin, chief of government, regulatory, and engagement at OneWeb, tells The Verge. "We make two a day in the factory in Florida. So we can find ways to get a resilient solution."

Previously: SpaceX and OneWeb Clash Over Proposed Satellite Constellation Orbits
FCC Approves SpaceX Lowering Orbit of Internet Satellites
SpaceX Approved to Deploy 1 Million U.S. Starlink Terminals; OneWeb Reportedly Considers Bankruptcy
Russia Places Extraordinary Demands on OneWeb Prior to Satellite Launch


Original Submission

Original Submission

Links

  1. "upstart" - https://soylentnews.org/~upstart/
  2. "OneWeb to Restart Internet Satellite Launches Using SpaceX Rockets" - https://www.pcmag.com/news/oneweb-to-restart-internet-satellite-launches-using-spacex-rockets
  3. "announced" - https://twitter.com/OneWeb/status/1505892782224904196
  4. "retaliate" - https://www.pcmag.com/news/russia-holds-oneweb-internet-satellite-launch-hostage
  5. "canceled" - https://www.pcmag.com/news/oneweb-scraps-satellite-launches-with-russia
  6. "bickering" - https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-accuses-rival-viasat-of-using-fcc-to-gain-access-to-starlink-tech
  7. "accused" - https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-there-was-no-near-collision-between-starlink-and-oneweb-satellites
  8. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
  9. "SpaceX wins OneWeb launch contracts, demonstrating extreme flexibility" - https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-wins-oneweb-launch-contracts/
  10. "Space News" - https://spacenews.com/oneweb-reaches-launch-deal-with-spacex/
  11. "NYT" - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/science/russia-spacex-oneweb.html
  12. "The Guardian" - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/21/uk-backed-oneweb-to-use-rival-spacex-rockets-after-russian-ban
  13. "Reuters" - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/oneweb-launch-satellites-with-rival-spacex-after-suspending-ties-with-russian-2022-03-21/
  14. "The Verge" - https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/21/22988867/oneweb-spacex-launch-agreement-russia-roscosmos-soyuz
  15. "invested roughly $500 million in OneWeb" - https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/3/21312456/uk-oneweb-500-million-space
  16. "suspending all further launches of its satellites from Kazakhstan" - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uk-satellite-company-oneweb-suspends-baikonur-launches-2022-03-03/
  17. "SpaceX and OneWeb Clash Over Proposed Satellite Constellation Orbits" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/03/23/0218226
  18. "FCC Approves SpaceX Lowering Orbit of Internet Satellites" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/04/28/129220
  19. "SpaceX Approved to Deploy 1 Million U.S. Starlink Terminals; OneWeb Reportedly Considers Bankruptcy" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/03/25/0056231
  20. "Russia Places Extraordinary Demands on OneWeb Prior to Satellite Launch" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/03/03/1351232
  21. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=54460
  22. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=54434

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