UK prime minister Boris Johnson reluctant to reveal his involvement in the OneWeb deal
- Reference: 1616686210
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/25/uk_pm_johnson_relucant_to/
- Source link:
Speaking to the [1]House of Commons Liaison Committee yesterday , the Tory leader responded to a question from Labour MP Darren Jones, asking whether Johnson had been involved personally in the controversial move and that the chancellor personally had to sign the cheque, as reports suggested.
[2]
Embodying his carefully crafted blonde-mopped buffoon persona, Johnson declined the opportunity to take responsibility for it.
“Certainly, the government was involved at all levels in doing the deal. I don’t think I should comment on exactly who did what,” Johnson said.
[3]
Nonetheless, the government’s commitment to the UK leading on something to do with satellites was unwavering.
“The ambition of, for the UK to have a presence in space and in the low Earth orbit market is a notable one and an important one. For too long, the UK has been left behind in the space race: this is an area of colossal commercial importance, so we need to be there,” Johnson said.
We're not getting back with Galileo, UK govt tells The Reg, as question marks sprout above its BS* [4]READ MORE
He continued to be vague about which department’s budget line the £500m investment in OneWeb came from when pressed by Jones, the chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. “The commitment is one that the whole of government has made, but if you're asking which department is responsible for space strategy, then the responsibility lies with the Secretary of State BEIS,” the Prime Minister said.
Given the [5]background to the decisions to buy OneWeb , the satellite communication company founded by Greg Wyler in 2012, it might be understandable that Johnson is hesitant to put his name to it.
For starters, OneWeb's satellites are designed for internet connectivity, rather than the sat-nav function the UK government might need them to perform to make up its departure from the Galileo programme which it left on exiting the EU.
One does not simply repurpose an entire internet constellation for sat-nav, but UK might have a go anyway [6]READ MORE
The satellites are [7]not designed to provide the centimetre levels of positioning accuracy on offer by the sat-nav competition. It might be feasible, if technically challenging, to operate a navigation system in the Low Earth Orbit of OneWeb rather than Medium Earth Orbit of something like Galileo. It would require fiddling with the payloads of the existing spacecraft and dealing with the ground infrastructure.
Alternatives to repurposing OneWeb [8]include the UK putting up £5bn or more to start from scratch building its own system, or swallowing its pride to get user access to the PRS service of Galileo , probably by far the cheaper option.
OneWeb had filed for bankruptcy in the US in March 2020. In July, [9]the government said it would provide $500m to deliver the first UK sovereign space capability, alongside $500m from Bharti Global. The company emerged from bankruptcy in November following the completion of the deal.
[10]
The UK government has been cagey about the exact purpose of the OneWeb deal in relation to its departure from the Galileo programme. It only alluded to “other services” and “a wide range of other applications” as well as satellite comms when the deal was announced. ®
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[1] https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4ee11fcd-f567-4897-8c0b-f04de0be4caa
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFzBuwqxaDBvmiV6QdR4QAAAAME&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFzBuwqxaDBvmiV6QdR4QAAAAME&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/21/no_galileo_uk/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/30/oneweb_bs/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/30/oneweb_bs/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/30/oneweb_bs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/21/no_galileo_uk/
[9] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-to-acquire-cutting-edge-satellite-network
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFzBuwqxaDBvmiV6QdR4QAAAAME&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Be kind to Boris
I was going to comment on Boris but I thought that it would be much better to head to the toilet and sit down for half an hour.
Re: Be kind to Boris
No difference.
Re: Be kind to Boris
...much more productive as well....whatever comes out of the sitting compares well to the cabinet..
Cagey about the exact purpose of the OneWeb deal
I doubt the government will actually know until Dom has worked through his backlog of retrospective blog entries.
Re: Cagey about the exact purpose of the OneWeb deal
Seems obvious to me. All the major powers have a space presence, so the UK has to have one also. Just a further extension of "but all the other kids have a (insert Xbox/Playstation/etc.) mommy". No self respecting government leader wants to be the only boy/girl without the latest toys.
We'll figure out what to do with them later.
Re: Cagey about the exact purpose of the OneWeb deal
I was at a local garden centre a couple of days ago - at the checkout, the cashier was looking for the barcode on one of the items and she commented that she needs to "visit Specsavers..."
IT in Spaaaaaaace?
Considering the exalted successes the UK gov' has had with IT on the planet's surface, I am keen to view their successes in space.
Re: IT in Spaaaaaaace?
You probably won't have to wait long till it lands in your garden.
Re: IT in Spaaaaaaace?
...Pork in Space!
Re: IT in Spaaaaaaace?
I think the established quote is "Pigs in Spaaaaace", and, given Miss Piggy's hairstyle, strangely appropriate.
Re: IT in Spaaaaaaace?
I suppose HMG doesn't want any closer scrutiny than that.
Johnson is a professional clown. With all the deeper meanings that involves.
Budgets
"He continued to be vague about which department’s budget line the £500m investment in OneWeb came from when pressed by Jones,"
About the same amount of vagueness that he will exhibit about how the final cost of the refurbishment of the flat above No. 11 Downing St will be settled.
£500million on a PR Exercise
This was just "The Johnson" spending money on something technical, and GPS'y as we had shot ourselves in the foot over Brexit, so he could claim, we are doing it ourselves.
Utter waste of money.
When is he going to build a bridge
to Mars?
Re: When is he going to build a bridge
I'm looking forward to him opening the NI Bridge, preferably from a pier built over the Beaufort Trench. Bridge opening and rocket launch combined.
Re: When is he going to build a bridge
Presumably the bridge to Northern Ireland will have to be a drawbridge (for security reasons) so when raised it will reach 45km, or halfway to space !
Cheaper Skynet?
As reported last year, the Government is still pressing ahead with Skynet-6 (military satellite comms).
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/skynet_6_6bn_satellite_bids_shortlist/
I still wonder whether this deal has something to do with it. The cost of Skynet is supposed to be £6bn. What's another £1/2bn on top?
Re: Cheaper Skynet?
A rounding error.
Re: Cheaper Skynet?
So you buy a LEO TDRS satellite network for 500M and propose to reuse that for GNSS while spending 6Bn on a separate TDRS satellite network ?
Clueless
The biggest problem with the current Government is that they are entirely shaped by what the media thinks, and how they appear in the media, with only grudging reference to experts in a field when they are backed into a corner, hence why they do deals with "Ferry companies" with no ships, buy protection for health workers fighting Covid which is woefully unsuitable, along with the much vaunted "Nightingale hospitals" which remain conspicuously empty... and buy satellite companies with products and expertise unsuitable for the intended task.
This is pure knee jerk response to satisfy anything the likes of the Sun or the Daily Mail will whine about, so they can say "It's ok we have splurged millions in tax payers money to 'solve' this".
Typical clueless Eton/Oxford classics graduates response to any problem, of muddling through and "it will turn out alright in the end".
The next Government (of whatever flavour) we vote into office next needs to start listening to people who are actually experts in a field, and have business experience , rather than listening to friends and acquittances they know from their private school or university who know someone who's looking to make a tidy fortune from the UK tax payer!
Re: Clueless
Do you think we will vote in people like this? No, many prefer the class clown.
I know lots of people who voted for Borises lot (they are not proper Conservatives), for the promise of the sunlit Brexit uplands and for all of the lies from the chief waffler.
Just think of the last few PMs, which ones do you think were decent? (Note not tarring them with incompetent brush just genuinely wondering who people trust.
Start at Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, to De piffle Johnson.
Re: Clueless
TBH the actual Prime Minister and the Government don't necessarily need to be the experts, or even be competent, they just have to trust and listen to people who are (See Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister lol).
"I know lots of people who voted for Borises lot (they are not proper Conservatives)" , personally I'm not a huge fan of the Conservatives but on this we agree 100%, this was a strange mutant takeover by the current bunch of misfits, especially the ERG who seem to be posh UKIP.
The old style Conservatives were at least reasonably sensible, and also listened to business, and people who could advise them properly.
I would also prefer any of those former Prime Ministers to Boris (yes really) because despite their many faults they did not dare to do the extreme, Cameron and May stood on the precipice of Brexit because I think they understood what it meant in real terms for jobs and the economy but were hamstrung by the loonies.
Boris jumped in gleefully feet first waving Union Jacks, and has basically said whatever he thinks will keep the ERG off his back, he never cared about Brexit it was just a way to get his feet under the table at no 10.
Re: Clueless
Being Prime minister is now a lifestyle goal and stepping stone to a career on the lecture / think-tank circuit.
Call the RAC?
It would require fiddling with the payloads of the existing spacecraft and dealing with the ground infrastructure. I think that retrofitting a GPS transmitter onto a low earth orbit satellite involves more than just fiddling. For a start you have to catch the thing and they are REALLY fast..... Assuming you can catch it as it whizzes by you then need to slot a decent atomic clock onto it....
Then play around with the ground station. Then persuade people who actually make stuff that requires positioning signals (so basically China) to make stuff that can read your signal.
If there was an ounce of commercial sense in putting this kit onto LEO satellites I'm guessing Elon would be ahead of Boris.
Re: Call the RAC?
That's only if you need Galileo type precision.
Reprogramming the onboard data link to broadcast "you're in Britain" while over the UK and "you're abroad" for the rest of the orbit shouldn't be too difficult.
More Pork!
Covid 19 regulations have just been extended until the Autumn - just what the doctor ordered - opportunity for more government money to be trousered by chums on pointless vanity projects without any oversight
Is the NAO paying attention?
When the CEO thinks it inappropriate to tell the shareholders about his involvement in a major spending decision it's time to call in the auditors.
For too long, the UK has been left behind in the space race
Oh so typical Johnson. Conveniently forgetting the UK's membership of the ESA (it is still a member, Galileo is an EU project).
Better not tell him which flag is flown on ESA missions (look it up, although you can probably guess).
Re: For too long, the UK has been left behind in the space race
> Conveniently forgetting the UK's membership of the ESA
Or simply demanding a rename to the "Global Britain and European Space Agency" - GBESA
Be kind to Boris
Every boy wants a rocket set to play with!