Russian space agency says it will hold up British-owned OneWeb’s launch

Space war

4 years ago

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit the space industry harder Wednesday after Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said it would hold up the launch of satellites for a company with British ownership.

OneWeb, a communications satellite company partly owned by the British government, intended to launch 36 satellites Friday on a Russian Soyuz rocket. But Roscosmos issued a statement Tuesday saying the launch was in doubt.

“Roscosmos demands guarantees OneWeb satellites not to be used [sic] for military purposes,” the agency posted on Twitter. “Because of Britain’s hostile stance against Russia, another condition for the March 5 launch is that the British government withdraws from OneWeb.”

OneWeb currently has over 400 satellites in orbit.

The British government issued a statement Tuesday saying it may no longer make sense to launch on any Russian rockets, according to the BBC.

But there will be no negotiation regarding the launch, Kwasi Kwarteng, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said on Twitter Tuesday.

“The UK Government is not selling its share. We are in touch with other shareholders to discuss next steps…” he tweeted.

Dmitry Rogozin, director general at Roscosmos, tweeted a video clip of workers at the Russian spaceport in Kazakhstan as they removed Japanese, British and U.S. flags from the rocket for Friday’s launch.

“The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful,” Rogozin said in the post, according to a translation.

NASA relies on Russia to provide vital services to the International Space Station, including thrust needed to keep the station in the proper orbit.

So far, NASA has said it doesn’t believe the conflict in Ukraine will impact the space station, but other experts have said the crisis is the worst in the history of the ISS partnership of nations.

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