Following through on its threats, Russia's space agency detached the OneWeb spacecraft, laden with broadband satellites, from its Soyuz rocket on Friday.
The development comes after Russia sought by March 4 a promise from OneWeb, located in the United Kingdom, that its satellites would not be used for military reasons.
Roscosmos has postponed the launch of 36 satellites for OneWeb's broadband constellation scheduled for March 5 due to OneWeb's refusal to give in to its demands.
The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft is seen on the launchpad shortly before the blast off at the Baikonur cosmodrome on December 8, 2021. - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano, led by Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, will blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0738 GMT.
Roscosmos Removes UK's OneWeb Satellites from Russian Soyuz
Russian space agency Roscosmos live-streamed the relocation of OneWeb satellites from the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
❗ Прямая трансляция с космодрома Байконур
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) March 4, 2022
Снятие ракеты-носителя «Союз-2.1б» с космическими аппаратами OneWeb со стартового комплекса площадки № 31 и её транспортирование в монтажно-испытательный корпус. https://t.co/UvoKLKAHSx
OneWeb plans to launch a constellation of 648 internet-delivery satellites, of which 428 have already been launched.
It apparently intended to launch the other satellites by August of this year. Still, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this now appears improbable.
OneWeb Pulls Employees Out Of Baikonur
Roscosmos severed relations with other space agencies and withdrew workers from each other's offices due to the Russia-Ukraine dispute.
OneWeb, on the other hand, was forced to evacuate its staff from the Baikonur launch facility as a result of Russia's injunction, according to SpaceNews.
The firm even declared on Twitter on March 3 that its board of directors has agreed to stop all Baikonur launches.
Statement:
— Eutelsat Group (@EutelsatGroup) March 3, 2022
The Board of OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur. pic.twitter.com/p8l80FGxId
Aside from the deadline, Russia has imposed another requirement to launch OneWeb satellites. The UK government had to give up its ownership in OneWeb as a deal condition.
As UK Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwaetend tweeted [QUOTE], the UK has rejected this demand.
Roscosmos-OneWeb Standoff
Science Times earlier reported that Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin paused launching the OneWeb satellites from Baikonur.
It was after the partners refused to provide legal guarantees that the space vehicles would be used solely for civilian purposes and to withdraw the British government as a shareholder in OneWeb.
As a result, the Roscosmos chief ordered the preparations to launch these satellites from the Baikonur, Vostochny, and Kourou spaceports to be halted.
On March 5, the Russian Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket carrying OneWeb satellites was set to launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 01:41 Moscow time.
The British OneWeb low-orbit satellites are part of a space-based communications infrastructure that will deliver high-speed Internet connectivity to everyone, wherever on the planet. Russian Soyuz carrier rockets orbited all of OneWeb's satellites.
Dmitry Loskutov, CEO of Glavkosmos commercial launch operator (a Roscosmos affiliate), told TASS that seven British OneWeb communications satellites would be launched in 2022.
On February 10, one launch from the Guiana space center (the Kourou cosmodrome) orbited 34 OneWeb satellites, according to March 4.
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