Russia holds OneWeb rocket launch hostage, issues conditional demands

Photo by Roscosmos Press OfficeTASS via Getty Images

Russia's state space corporation is making a list of demands of its customer OneWeb before it agrees to launch the company's upcoming mission this week. It seems likely that the launch of OneWeb's satellites will not take place because of the new demands.

In an interview with OneWeb, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that he wants assurances that the company's satellites won't be used for military purposes. The British government is a primary shareholder in OneWeb. If the demands aren't met, the launch won't happen.

For the last few years, OneWeb has been launching its satellites on Russia's Soyuz rocket. OneWeb is building out a massive mega-constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide internet coverage from space. The company launched its satellites in batches of 34 and 36 at a time. 36 new satellites were supposed to be launched this week to flesh out the constellation.

The company did not respond to a request for comment from The Verge in time for publication.

The launch won't happen because of the British government's inability to comply with the demand to sell their holdings. The British government invested $500 million in OneWeb in order to save the company. The British government is under pressure to cancel this launch in light of the Russian invasion.

According to Russia's state press organization, the rocket had already been built and paid for, so there will be no economic damage if the launch is delayed. The OneWeb satellites will remain at the Baikonur Cosmodrome until the situation is resolved, according to the space organization. If this rocket is not used to launch OneWeb's satellites, it will be used for another flight. The future of OneWeb's working relationship with Roscosmos is in doubt.

The Russian side is ready to fulfill its commitments given that the foreign customer provides legal guarantees. So far, it has successfully launched 428 satellites.

The flags of the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom were covered up by personnel at Baikonur in order to emphasize how bad Russia's relationship with other nations has become. They decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look better.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is having a spillover effect on space partnerships. Russian personnel were removed from the area because of European sanctions after the invasion. The European Space Agency said that the planned launch of the Mars rover with Russia wouldn't happen this year due to current events on Earth.

The article was updated to include a new one from Dmitry Rogozin.