British satellite operator OneWeb took a US$229 million hit for terminating its Soyuz launch contract in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sizeable penalty, totalling US$229.2 million, was revealed as an impairment charge in the company’s annual report. The charge “arose from the Russia-Ukraine war resulting in the postponement of a planned launch on 4 March 2022, the associated postponement of subsequent scheduled launches, the loss of satellites not returned to the Group and the impairment of a portion of the Group’s prepaid launch insurance.”
The planned launch would have seen 36 OneWeb satellites launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Just two days before the planned launch though Roscosmos threatened to cancel the launch unless a set of its conditions were met. These included the UK government divesting its stake in the British startup, and providing assurance that the satellites would not be used for military purposes. OneWeb’s board rejected the conditions and instead opted to suspend all launches from Baikonur. After the launch was scrubbed the unused satellites were placed in storage at Baikonur, where they have remained since.
Earlier this month the operator also said it is considering forming a second-generation constellation with Eutelsat, which it is currently in merger talks with. The planned merger, which was announced in July, will see OneWeb’s constellation of 648 low Earth orbit satellites added to Eutelsat’s own fleet of 36 geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites. The deal is expected to be finalized by mid- 2023 but, according to SpaceNews, OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said the companies “do not need to wait” for the closing of the merger.
OneWeb’s ninth launch (Flight ST34) on 22 August 2021 before geopolitical tensions led to a halt of the company’s launches from Baikonur. Courtesy: Roscosmos, Space Centre Baikonur, TsENKI
