OneWeb suspends satellite launches from Baikonur
In a brief statement, the board of UK-backed broadband satellite operator OneWeb has suspended launches from Baikonur Space Port in Kazakhstan.
The company used Russian Soyuz launchers at Baikonur to launch its satellites into low earth orbit. “The Board of OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur,” said the statement.
The company launched 34 satellites from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana using Arianespace at the start of February. This launch, the Company’s first in 2022 and 13th overall, brings OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to 428 satellites, which is two thirds of the planned 648 LEO satellite fleet.
However launches at Kourou have also been suspended as a result of the war in Ukraine and a reliance on Russian engines and engineers.
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The last launch from Baikonur was at the end of December by Arianespace using a Soyuz launcher. This is highly likely to restrict OneWeb’s plan to have a global broadband service operating by the end of the year.
Russia has also objected to the UK’s 19% investment in OneWeb.
Last week the company signed a deal with Eclipse Global Connectivity (to provide data services hardware systems and certifications to government aircraft across Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA). This will include providing data for command and control applications and manned and unmanned airborne surveillance missions.
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