OneWeb drops launches from Russia's Baikonur spaceport
- Reference: 1646310249
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/03/oneweb_roscosmos/
- Source link:
Roscosmos yesterday [2]demanded the "withdrawal of the British government from the shareholders of OneWeb" after seeking a guarantee that the satellites would not be put to military use. It said in the tweet (loosely translated): "In connection with the hostile position of the UK towards Russia, another condition for the launch of OneWeb spacecraft on March 5 is the withdrawal of the British government from the shareholders of OneWeb."
The situation was already shaky after the UK government was urged to [3]reconsider the launch by opposition MP Darren Jones.
[4]
The troubled satellite company was [5]bailed out , in part, by the UK government in 2020. Half a billion dollars were spent by Whitehall on the acquisition (along with another $500m from Bharti Global) and the deployment of the company's first-generation satellite constellation was supposed to have been completed by the end of 2022.
[6]
[7]
This is now looking somewhat doubtful, given OneWeb's reliance on the Russian Soyuz rocket to carry its satellites to orbit.
Last month, the company launched another 34 satellites atop a Soyuz from the Arianespace facility in French Guiana, bringing the total in orbit to 428. A further 648 are required to complete the constellation, and 36 were scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 22.41 UTC on 4 March.
[8]
How one would get those 36 satellites back from Baikonur is also open to question – today's statement notwithstanding – we've asked OneWeb, but the company has yet to respond.
Launching on a Soyuz from French Guiana is also [9]out of the question . Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin this week [10]boasted of the return of 29 people to Moscow from French Guiana with another 56 departing in "the near future."
OneWeb is in an impossible situation, as is much of the space industry. Russian engines power an awful lot of the world's bigger launchers. United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V is currently burning through its stash of Russian RD-180 engines ahead of the booster's retirement in a few years while Northrop Grumman's Antares uses Russian RD-181 engines in its first stage. The former has enough engines to see out the programme, the latter has enough to get through the next two cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
[11]EU cuts off key Russian banks from SWIFT system
[12]New flashpoint: US may ask Chinese tech firms to bin Russia
[13]Second data-wiping malware found in Ukraine, says ESET
[14]Ukraine asks ICANN to delete all Russian domains
Alternatives exist. There's SpaceX's Falcon 9, though ESA's Ariane 5 is both expensive and nearing retirement (and Ariane 6 is a few years from operational), and the Atlas V's manifest is full ahead of its replacement by the Blue Origin-powered Vulcan. Other rockets, such as Rocketlab's Neutron, are still years off.
Which brings us to the future of the ISS itself. NASA would like to keep the outpost in orbit [15]until 2030 , but this week Roscosmos [16]expressed "skepticism" over extending past 2024 under sanctions. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is currently scheduled to return to Earth at the end of this month in a Russian Soyuz capsule.
[17]
Rogozin [18]posted a sequence of tweets last week where he railed against sanctions and warned that without Russian Progress cargo ships, "who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?"
SpaceX boss Elon Musk's response was simple.
[19]pic.twitter.com/4kRJyp0FOv — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) [20]February 26, 2022
Could it be done? Possibly. The Cygnus freighter has the capability to reboost the ISS (if the station is reoriented) and other plans call for additional Dragon vehicles to replace the capabilities of the Russian segment of the outpost.
The clock is very much ticking for the ISS – 2024 is not that far away. ®
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[1] https://oneweb.net/media-center/the-board-of-oneweb-has-voted-to-suspend-all-launches-from-baikonur
[2] https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1498986749409861633
[3] https://twitter.com/darrenpjones/status/1498661114338492422
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YiD0PLOz9MCeTvhLx2KMwwAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/03/uk_buys_oneweb/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiD0PLOz9MCeTvhLx2KMwwAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YiD0PLOz9MCeTvhLx2KMwwAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiD0PLOz9MCeTvhLx2KMwwAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/01/rosalind_franklin_russia_mars_rover/
[10] https://twitter.com/Rogozin/status/1498891720888659973
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/02/oracle_sap_sberbank/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/02/china_us_russia_sanctions_tangle/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/01/ukraine_wiper_apple_visa_mastercard/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/01/ukraine_icann_domains/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/05/iss_2030/
[16] https://tass.com/science/1413909
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YiD0PLOz9MCeTvhLx2KMwwAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://twitter.com/Rogozin/status/1496933548372209669
[19] https://t.co/4kRJyp0FOv
[20] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1497370602075734021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: At least we still have Galileo.
They still have to Figaro that out
Re: At least we still have Galileo.
Actually there are still another 10(?) Galileo satellites to add and they are launched by Soyuz launchers operated by Ariannespace ...
Hilarious!
Russians: "We don't want to deal with you until you meet our demands!"
OneWeb: "OK, sod you then! Well take our custom elsewhere! Cheers!"
Re: Hilarious!
Hopefully this might show the beancounters the importance of having your own launch capabilities. The West is heading in the right direction but it's all about a decade too late. If there had been less mucking about and more money, OneWeb could really have said "Screw you" knowing there was plenty of alternatives.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but it's not like there hasn't been a lot of shouting about this very situation for years...
I wonder how long it would take to adapt OneWeb to launching on Falcon 9 or alternatives.
It probably isn't as simple as just sticking the satellites into the space on top of the rocket. There's the size of the satellites to take into account, and how they are deployed from the rocket. The may be lucky and it is possible in a short time period.
I guess the 36 satellites ready to launch need to be written off, they aren't coming back, and the sanctions aren't stopping soon.
Even if they do come back, would you trust that they hadn't been tampered with in some way?
@elonmusk
His reply reminded me of Team America's "Matt Damon!" for some strange reason.
...Roscosmos expressed "skepticism" over extending past 2024 under sanctions.
Reminds me of Richie Blackmoor's response to the press, when David Coverdale said there was definitely no Deep Purple reunion on, as he hadn't heard anything about it.
"Who the fuck asked him anyway?".
Apparently Roscosmos doesn't expect Russia to pull out of Ukraine before that then.
A Putin boutique one has to assume.
Lets not pretend that the UK government investing in Oneweb has anything to do with the desire to provide satellite internet in the first place, it was always a military usage they were interested in. What remains to be seen is can Oneweb's balance sheet cope with writing off those satellites that were due to go up on the Russian rockets without needing more government cash?
Brexit ...
OneWeb was the UKs response to shooting itself in the foot over the Galileo fuckup with Brexit.
The fact it's gone sour so quickly - albeit not as many might have predicted - just underscores what a shit idea Brexit continues to be.
It was interesting that regardless of what the "sovereign" UK decided, RT and Sputnik went dark because they are in the EUs jurisdiction.
re. can Oneweb's balance sheet cope with writing off those satellites
in one word: yes. Just change the figures on the balance sheet. Given how easy it was to lose 4 - 30bn (gbp, not roubles), to covid-related scam, I don't believe a few m here or that matters :(
ps. yes, I'm a Putin bot and I demand my 5 roubles now!
(eventual) refund?
If you've already paid for a service (rockets to deliver your satellites) and then the provider suddenly adds extra conditions to the contract (can't be used for military use; one of two major shareholders has to sell their stake), you'd have grounds for expecting your money refunded, surely? I'm not saying you'd expect a refund any time soon, but I'd be filing papers with whatever international court of arbitration is applicable.
Re: (eventual) refund?
When the organization that owes you money is an arm of a government that feels free to invade its neighbors on a whim, you can just kiss those payments goodbye.
Re: (eventual) refund?
On the other had this will make it more difficult for Roscosmos to get future customers.
Re: (eventual) refund?
I'm not saying you'd expect a refund any time soon, but I'd be filing papers with whatever international court of arbitration is applicable.
"And how many divisions does the Court have?"
Re: (eventual) refund?
"I'm not saying you'd expect a refund any time soon, but I'd be filing papers with whatever international court of arbitration is applicable."
If I was OneWeb, I'd write off the satellites, perhaps upload a virus to them, (if they were suddenly switched on, thereby making them unusable)...and then accept as "payment" the monies from the sale of one (or more) oligarchs recently seized "assets"...
There's some nice shiny boats/yachts that have been seized by France already...and maybe OneWeb fancies branching out into a London football club (unless Abramovich can sell it quickly...though the b*$t*rd Tory govt is taking it's time to increase sanctions against some of the sponsors of it's political party...giving them a chance to move their funds :-( )
Handing Russia the keys to UK's security
It seems very probable that the Russians have or now will reverse engineer the security keys contained within the satellites. One can only hope that all satellites already up and running will have their current keys revoked and replaced by new ones. I am not firm enough on public / private key cryptography, but for me it feels that handing the Russians this data on a platter is asking for an attack later down the line.
Re: Handing Russia the keys to UK's security
As I understand it (but I am not in the industry) they get launched with a stripped down firmware that handles the 'separation' and 'getting into position' roles. Once they're in place they get a new firmware uploaded which does the operational stuff.
So hopefully the keys aren't in the factory firmware anyway.
OK, they'll get an insight into the capabilities but I doubt there's anything remarkable in that. Unless they've embedded a KW laser, which could be quite handy just as soon as Putin shows his face somewhere within range...
RD-180 Engines
Russia has also announced that it will not be supplying any more engines (which get used for military flights, among other things) to the US. Support for those they already have has also been withdrawn.
Work was already under way to replace them (someone pointed out that it probably wasn't a good idea to have the defence of your country dependent on a hostile nation - duh! Really?), but the program is running late...
Updated to add:
[1]Reported by Reuters
[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-halts-deliveries-rocket-engines-us-2022-03-03/
Re: RD-180 Engines
How long would it take the US to reverse engineer them?
It only took the USSR 2 years to copy the B-29 including developing the right spec alloys, plastics, and electronics.
Re: RD-180 Engines
However, Atlas was already end-of-lifed and production ended.
The CEO of ULA has tweeted that they have all the RD-180 engines they need for the remaining 25 or so missions in a US warehouse.
How long would it take the US to reverse engineer them?
The US already has the manufacturing info from Russia, as manufacturing the engines in the US was a requirement by Congress... who then failed to provide any of the promised funding for said manufacturing.
Re: RD-180 Engines
> Work was already under way to replace them (someone pointed out that it probably wasn't a good idea to have the defence of your country dependent on a hostile nation - duh! Really?), but the program is running late...
Well, one would hope that the Yanks have enough nous to reverse engineer an evolution of a 1960's design rocket engine. And if they don't they can always buy them from North Korea. ;-)
Meh. The ISS has been operational decades beyond its original planned life span. I think if they have to shut it down, so be it. Better than kow-towing to a dictator.
Maybe they could deorbit it on top of said dictator?
One wonders what is happening aboard the ISS with the current Expedition 66 crew...2 from Roscosmos, 4 from NASA and 1 from ESA.
Maybe the Russian cosmonauts will stay in their own section and not stray into the "NASA exclusion zone" ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_66
Additional crew are due to arrive on 18th March 2022, with 3 extra crew from Roscosmos joining, taking the number onboard to 10....(though at least 2 crew will subsequently return to Earth on 30th March).
They could organise a nice game of 5-a-side football with 5 from NASA/ESA and 5 from Roscosmos. !
At least we still have Galileo.
Oh, hang on ....