In an interview Sept. 14 during World Satellite Business Week in Paris, Airbus Defence and Space head of space Jean-Marc Nasr said all satellites OneWeb needs to complete its constellation have been produced and are awaiting deployment.Following sanctions, he said, OneWeb Satellites has pivoted from electric propulsion systems imported from Russia’s Fakel to thrusters from U.S.-based Busek Co.
Even though the government has changed, it is still under pressure to show that the investment has been a success, say officials. The proposed combination with Eutelsat, part-owned by the French state, relieved the UK of responsibility for helping to fund OneWeb’s second generation satellites.But now the question is whether the ultimate price of success will be to require that the UK adjusts its golden share in OneWeb — one of only three companies operating high speed communication services from LEO. This could dilute Britain’s options for using OneWeb as a strategic global asset.Last week in Paris, the chief executives of Eutelsat and OneWeb appeared to suggest that some adaptation would be necessary for the company to compete in one of the biggest space tenders around: the EU’s proposed €6bn satellite broadband constellation. Officials in Brussels remain deeply hostile to OneWeb, saying the UK’s golden share means the EU cannot have sovereign control over the service. The golden share gives the UK “a range of national security rights, including use of the OneWeb network for national security purposes”.
Point-of-order with Oneweb: the "anyone but SpaceX" Soyuz buy-in was made when Wyler was still CEO, and he had a beef with SpaceX over Starlink. When Wyler was forced out in the 2020 bankruptcy, that policy vanished but because the money for the Soyuz launches had already been spent there was no reason to try and back out and re-bid (adding extra costs for the bid process, and for a new payload adapter for whatever the new vehicle was, on top of any cancellation fees). When Soyuz launches became untenable, the new owners announced the launch agreement with SpaceX before starting to bid out to other providers.
Replying here to a post that was inappropriately in the Ariane 6 thread.Quote from: edzieba on 10/10/2022 04:05 pmPoint-of-order with Oneweb: the "anyone but SpaceX" Soyuz buy-in was made when Wyler was still CEO, and he had a beef with SpaceX over Starlink. When Wyler was forced out in the 2020 bankruptcy, that policy vanished but because the money for the Soyuz launches had already been spent there was no reason to try and back out and re-bid (adding extra costs for the bid process, and for a new payload adapter for whatever the new vehicle was, on top of any cancellation fees). When Soyuz launches became untenable, the new owners announced the launch agreement with SpaceX before starting to bid out to other providers.Wyler and Musk parted ways very abruptly in late 2014. OneWeb began looking for a launch provider that was reliable and could promise to provide the very large (for the time) number of launches. Soyuz was the only choice and the bulk buy was very attractive. OneWeb thought they would be launching starting in 2016. F9 was not a reliable launcher at the time and was too costly. I'm fairly sure Wyler would not have contracted with SpaceX in any event, and Musk might not have accepted a contract, but it did not matter.
Quote from: DanClemmensen on 10/10/2022 04:20 pmReplying here to a post that was inappropriately in the Ariane 6 thread.Quote from: edzieba on 10/10/2022 04:05 pmPoint-of-order with Oneweb: the "anyone but SpaceX" Soyuz buy-in was made when Wyler was still CEO, and he had a beef with SpaceX over Starlink. When Wyler was forced out in the 2020 bankruptcy, that policy vanished but because the money for the Soyuz launches had already been spent there was no reason to try and back out and re-bid (adding extra costs for the bid process, and for a new payload adapter for whatever the new vehicle was, on top of any cancellation fees). When Soyuz launches became untenable, the new owners announced the launch agreement with SpaceX before starting to bid out to other providers.Wyler and Musk parted ways very abruptly in late 2014. OneWeb began looking for a launch provider that was reliable and could promise to provide the very large (for the time) number of launches. Soyuz was the only choice and the bulk buy was very attractive. OneWeb thought they would be launching starting in 2016. F9 was not a reliable launcher at the time and was too costly. I'm fairly sure Wyler would not have contracted with SpaceX in any event, and Musk might not have accepted a contract, but it did not matter.Wasn't one of the consequences of Wyler and Musk parting ways in 2014 Musk starting a program that became the first Starlink constellation?
Eutelsat would nearly double annual sales in five years to around $2 billion if its OneWeb merger gets approved, the satellite operators said Oct. 12 as they disclosed financials underpinning their multi-orbit deal.U.K.-based OneWeb’s non-geostationary (NGSO) network is key to competing in a satellite connectivity market that is projected to more than triple to $16 billion by 2030, according to Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke.
