Weeks after Moscow forced British satellite firm OneWeb to cancel an 11-hour rocket launch from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the company said on Monday it had signed a contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX to send its satellites into orbit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed with California-based SpaceX, OneWeb's direct competitor in the nascent broadband satellite industry.
Weeks after Moscow forced British satellite firm OneWeb to cancel an 11-hour rocket launch from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the company said on Monday it had signed a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send its satellites into orbit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed with California-based SpaceX, OneWeb’s direct competitor in the nascent broadband satellite industry.
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| A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage and satellites of British firm OneWeb is removed from a launchpad after the launch was cancelled at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan March 4, 2022. |
Earlier this month, OneWeb scrapped plans to launch 36 satellites from Baikonur on March 4 and suspended contact with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos over a last-minute Moscow request to the company , including an assurance that OneWeb’s technology will not be used for military purposes.
OneWeb’s launch comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO governments, including the U.K., as the West slapped economic sanctions on Moscow over Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
The UK government, which holds a stake in OneWeb, also said it was reviewing its involvement in further projects with Russia in light of the Ukraine crisis.
The British satellite company expects an initial launch with SpaceX later this year to add to its 428 satellites already in low Earth orbit.
“With these launch plans in place, we are on track to complete our full satellite fleet,” said OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson.
OneWeb, which plans to provide universal broadband through what will eventually be a network of 650 satellites, was rescued from bankruptcy in 2020 by the British government and Indian telecom giant Bharti Global. Eutelsat Communications and SoftBank Group are other investors in the company.
SpaceX’s Starlink is one of several in the fast-growing satellite broadband business, including Amazon subsidiary Project Kuiper, which has put some 1,500 satellites into operation to provide internet access to areas that are underserved or difficult to access.
(Source: Reuters)
