Roscosmos requested letters of guarantee from Arianespace and OneWeb that the OneWeb satellites to be launched in 2022 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome will not be used for military purposes. Otherwise, the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with 36 satellites, scheduled to launch on March 5, will be removed from the launch complex and taken back to the assembly and test building.
"We demand comprehensive legally binding guarantees that OneWeb will not use these satellites for military purposes and will not provide these services to the relevant military agencies. We have time until March 4, 21:30 Moscow time, when the launch operations become irreversible. If we do not receive such confirmation from our partners, the rocket will be removed from the launchpad and the satellites will be sent to the assembly and testing facility," said Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin.
The OneWeb spacecraft for the planned March 5 launch are manufactured by OneWeb Satellites (50% owned by AIRBUS Defense and Space and 50% owned by OneWeb) at a plant in Florida, USA. Since 2020, the OneWeb project has been carried out by Bharti Global (India) and the UK government, each owning a 42.2% stake. The remaining shares were divided between Softbank (Japan, 12.3%) and Hughes Network Systems (USA, 2.6%), as well as minority shareholders. In September 2021, Eutelsat company completed its investment in OneWeb, obtaining at the time a 24% stake and the status of co-owner. In August 2021, South Korean conglomerate Hanwha announced an investment in OneWeb through its defense IT subsidiary Hanwha Systems, which intends to receive about 8.8% in the new shareholder structure. The UK government was and still is the controlling shareholder.
Because of Britain's hostile stance against Russia, another condition for the March 5 launch is that the British government withdraws from OneWeb.
The cancellation of the launch would not cause any substantial economic damage to the activities of Roscosmos and its subsidiaries. The manufacturing of the rockets and the upper stages was paid for almost in full by the customer. The satellites present at the Baikonur Cosmodrome will remain there until the situation is resolved. No other launch vehicles for the OneWeb orbital constellation are expected in the near future, but without an additional batch of satellites, full operation of the system is impossible. Russia is ready to fulfill its obligations if the foreign customer provides it with the appropriate legal guarantees.
Planned preparations for the launch are now underway. Today the assembly of schemes and the autonomous testing of systems and units of spacecraft, the upper stage and the carrier rocket are performed and the interaction of on-board hardware and ground equipment is being tested. On Thursday, the Fregat upper stage launch readiness control check is to be conducted, with general testing to be held in the afternoon. On Friday evening, a meeting of the State Commission will take place to review the results and clear the rocket for refueling.
If the launch is cancelled, the launch vehicle will be removed from the launch site without any consequences. In particular, the Fregat upper stage chemical batteries are operational until the end of April 2022, and the control system calibration makes it usable until May. The Fregat propulsion system is filled with fuel components and can be used until August 10 this year. The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle has a long warranty period and can be used for other purposes if necessary.
