OneWeb, a British satellite maker, canceled launches reliant on Russia, which also announced it would cease selling rocket engines to American companies.
OneWeb, a satellite internet company partly owned by the British government, has canceled an upcoming satellite launch using a Russian rocket and suspended all future launches that relied on Russia, the company announced on Thursday after a tense public standoff with Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency. Also on Thursday, Roscosmos announced it would stop selling rocket engines to American companies. The moves, both fallout from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, stand to further isolate the Russian space agency from its Western space partners, and limit Russia’s private space activities dramatically. OneWeb’s loss of a reliable rocket provider for launches also poses novel challenges for the company as it had aimed to complete its constellation of 648 satellites in orbit later this year. OneWeb was rescued from bankruptcy in 2020 by the British government and other investors. It was scheduled to launch 36 satellites aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Friday. The company has sent roughly 400 satellites to orbit since 2019, every time using Soyuz, a workhorse rocket that’s been active since the days of the Cold War space race. But on Wednesday, just after the Soyuz rolled out to the pad ahead of its launch, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s space chief, announced two conditions aimed at countering the sanctions placed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine: The space agency would not proceed with the satellite mission unless Britain withdrew its multibillion dollar stake in OneWeb and the company provided a “guarantee that its satellites will not be used for military purposes.” Mr. Rogozin also posted a video on Twitter showing Roscosmos personnel on a platform next to the rocket covering up British, American and Japanese flags emblazoned on the rocket’s exterior. “The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful,” said Mr. Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister who often makes bombastic remarks on social media. The space agency’s ultimatum, which came just three days before the previously planned launch, spurred emergency discussions among British officials and OneWeb shareholders, who decided Wednesday night to cease all future launches from Baikonur, the spaceport in Kazakhstan where Russia conducts most of its launches.
