As we mentioned in our show about a week and a half ago, the sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine are causing Russia to impose its own sanctions in return. One of the casualties of these sanctions is the British satellite Internet company OneWeb, which prepaid Roscosmos through the french company Arianespace for several Soyuz launches to build their constellation of satellites. Roscosmos has indicated that they have no intention of returning the money OneWeb paid for launches that they will never be able to use.

On March 21, OneWeb announced that they have made arrangements with SpaceX to launch the rest of the satellites needed to complete their constellation, with the first launch to take place sometime later this year. This is an interesting situation because SpaceX operates Starlink, their own satellite internet service. However, the two constellations serve different markets, with SpaceX serving individual residential customers and OneWeb businesses and governments. The precise details of the arrangement were confidential.

It’s important to remember that SpaceX is also in the business of providing launch services, and they’ve been striving to become the launch provider of choice for companies looking to put satellites in a variety of orbits. Part of this involves providing launch services for anyone, even companies that might be competing in the satellite Internet market. If they were to have refused to launch OneWeb’s satellites, they could have found themselves running afoul of anticompetition laws in the United States.

Instead, they are leveraging the opportunity to foster good relationships with the United Kingdom, one of the major partners in OneWeb, and also show they are an alternative for other European companies who are going to face problems getting to orbit because Soyuz and Proton are no longer an option.

A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.

More Information

OneWeb press release