SpaceX wins OneWeb launch contract, demonstrating extreme flexibility

Demonstrating a level of flexibility that no other commercial launch provider on Earth can match, SpaceX and OneWeb have entered into a major launch contract three weeks after the satellite internet company kicked off Russia’s Soyuz rocket.

In early 2020, OneWeb has launched about 430 operational small Internet satellites – about two-thirds of its first constellation – on a dozen different Russian Soyuz 2.1B and ST-B rockets, including most recently as of February 10, 2022. Includes one mission completed. That nominal – albeit slow – deployment ground for a violent halt, as well as Russia’s second unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Within a week, extraordinary Western economic sanctions prompted the unstable head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency to retaliate by ending the practice of both. European owned Soyuz launch And Hostage of OneWeb’s 13th operational launch.

Another three weeks later, outside the increasingly tense and reluctant cooperation aboard the International Space Station, relations between the Russian and Western spacecraft programs have effectively ended. This includes all 6-7 of OneWeb’s remaining Soyuz launch contracts, for each of which the company has already paid more than $50 million. Although OneWeb technicians were able to escape from a rapidly growing enemy country, Russia effectively withdrew (i.e. stole) OneWeb’s remaining rockets. And It is the 13th batch of operational satellites.

This left OneWeb in a surprisingly precarious position. Once insolvent, a major delay can be financially catastrophic for the company. Normally, it would be nearly impossible to get half a dozen near-term launch contracts in the last second. In fact, ignoring a certain American company, no other launch provider on Earth could even theoretically figure out enough capability to launch OneWeb’s final third without a delay of at least a year or two, or could not build. Fortunately for OneWeb, SpaceX exists.

One thing I still see that people have failed to acknowledge (or completely misrepresent) about this situation is SpaceX’s disproportionately large number of last-second commercial launches in the near-term. Has the ability to… they have this constellation called Starlink! https://t.co/cYkmWxFQtE

— eric ralph (@13ericralph31) 11 March 2022

As discussed in the March 2 Teslarti newsletter, SpaceX is exceptionally unique in a sea of ​​expendable, old rockets.

,SpaceX – a direct competitor that is far more vertically integrated than OneWeb and has not caused any major problems by Russian sanctions – may be OneWeb’s only near-term alternative for its orphaned satellites. The only obvious option would be to delay the years to avoid SpaceX altogether and instead wait for space to open up to less available rockets from companies like Arianespace and ULA, or on manifests from India or Japan. ,

SpaceX has plans to launch at least 52+ Falcons in 2022, many of which are Starlink missions that the company may be willing to partially replace with some lucrative launches for OneWeb.

Teslarati – March 2, 2022

Because of SpaceX’s exceptional vertical integration and decision to launch its own Starlink internet satellites, which compete directly with OneWeb, the company has dozens Flexible launches are planned in the next year or two that it could possibly convert into commercial missions. No other international launch provider on Earth has the capability to scrape its own internal declaration To effectively create capacity for last-second commercial demand from low wind.

At the cost of a handful of Starlink launches, of which SpaceX already has close to 2,100 working satellites in orbit, the company will be able to step into and complete OneWeb’s constellation almost heroically, giving the company a potentially multi-pronged launch. Allows to avoid delay of years if forced to use other providers.

Notable: Critical space officials in Germany say the best course for Europe in the near future would be to transfer the six stranded Galileo satellites, which were due to fly on the Soyuz, to three Falcon 9 rockets. https://t.co/PHlykfTPRG

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) 21 March 2022

In fact, due to Europe’s chronic lack of domestic launch capability as a result of years of Ariane 6 delays, even some institutional European satellites orphaned by Russia’s actions may eventually be carried in SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. in order to avoid long launch delays. All told, OneWeb didn’t provide any specifics about cost, total number of missions, or any other changes it implemented in its new SpaceX contract, but the company says it will launch as early as this summer. — Truly exceptional performance resilience from both OneWeb and SpaceX.

SpaceX wins OneWeb launch contract, demonstrating extreme flexibility