Following the recent sanctions on its home country, Roscosmos refuses to proceed with the planned OneWeb internet satellite launch on Friday, March 4 unless the UK-based internet company met the state agency's demand.
Roscosmos Refuses To Launch 36 OneWeb Internet Satellites To Space
The recent tweet from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed that the planned launch of internet satellites to space is in a position to push through.
Roscosmos explained: "The commission at the Baikonur Cosmodrome made a positive decision on the removal of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle and its installation at the launch complex on March 2."
The Commission at the Baikonur Cosmodrome cleared the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket for rollout and installation at the launch pad on March 2.
🚀 This will be the first commercial launch from Baikonur this year. The launch is scheduled for March 4 at 22:41 UTC https://t.co/gVq2qQfxmD— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) March 1, 2022
In relation to this, Space.com reported that the anticipated rollout puts the Soyuz rocket one step closer to its planned launch on Friday, March 4 at 5:41 p.m. EST. In addition, the Soyuz rocket will take aboard more than three dozen of OneWeb internet satellites aiming to land on the low-Earth orbit.
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For background information, Financial Times explained that the space entrepreneur Greg Wyler aims to bring 100,000 satellites in orbit to make his business venture E-Space possible. Previously, the OneWeb founder stated that his company raised $50 million through seed funding from Prime Movers Lab.
Financial Times also noted that the goal of E-Space is to create a massive mesh network of small satellites capable of providing bespoke and commercial services to businesses and governments. Britain's OneWeb also aims to provide services ranging from secure communications to remote infrastructure management.
Despite the benefit it brings, Roscosmos still refuses to proceed with the launch as planned, unless the company meets the state agency's demands. The Russian space agency head Dmitry Rogozin highlighted that the ultimatum is a response to the United Kingdom.
To provide further details of the demands, Roscosmos stated through CNBC that the Soyuz rocket will be withdrawn from the launchpad at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome unless OneWeb complies with two criteria: (1) The U.K. government sells its stake in the company and (2) OneWeb guarantees that the satellites will not be used for military purposes.
Aside from this, several people are also questioning the timing of the launch.
United Kingdom Member of Parliament Questions The Timing Of Launch
One of the said people who questioned the OneWeb Internet Satellite launch was the United Kingdom Member of Parliament Darren Jones.
On his Twitter account, Jones posted a copy of his letter sent to the UK's Minister for Science, Research and Innovation George Freeman clarifying whether his department "considers this situation inappropriate given the current situation."
The British tax payer backed @OneWeb is due to launch satellites from the Russian-owned @C__Baikonur on Russian Soyuz rockets in partnership with the Russian Space Agency @roscosmos in Kazakhstan this week. My letter to Ministers 👇 pic.twitter.com/RkDbHHWgru
— Darren Jones MP (@darrenpjones) March 1, 2022
The said letter also noted that the U.K. government assisted in the purchase of London-based OneWeb out of bankruptcy and thus has a say in the company's affairs.
The House of Commons' Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee chair also asked Freeman if his department is planning to intervene in this situation. Additionally, Jones also suggests assisting OneWeb in finding other launch suppliers.
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