I’m laughing while I’m writing this. OneWeb is now turning to their Competitor (The one they have the most rivalry with) and that is SpaceX. They are taking help from SpaceX to get their First-Gen Internet satellites to space after Russia’s Roscosmos space agency issued an ultimatum to the company at the start of the month. On Monday, the company announced that they had an agreement with the Elon Musk-owned company to take the remainder of OneWeb’s constellation fleet up to space.
OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said that they thank SpaceX for the support, that reflects their vision for the boundless potential of space. With these launch plans in place, they’re on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe. On a personal note: I don’t think they are ever going to be talking about the competition (With, of course, Starlink. Starlink is owned by SpaceX) Instead, I see SpaceX buying out OneWeb in the future.
On the 3rd of March, Roscosmos said that they would not conduct any additional launches for OneWeb (Just days before they were scheduled to put 36 satellites up in space) They said that they would not conduct any additional launches if the company made assurances its network would not be used for military purposes and the UK sold its minority stake in OneWeb.
Came in response to the sanctions the United Kingdom imposed on Russia after they started invading Ukraine on February 24th. As of that time, the United Kingdom government said that it would not sell its stake in OneWeb. Russian Soyuz rockets have carried 428 OneWeb satellites to orbit but the company’s first-gen network will consist of 648 satellites. So there’s a lot more to happen.
