I somehow doubt OneWeb is getting those satellites launched or even back.
Quote from: Robotical on 03/02/2022 03:33 pmI somehow doubt OneWeb is getting those satellites launched or even back. Russia must be running out of feet to shoot itself in. Who would ever be dumb enough to contract their services after this?
Quote from: Nomadd on 03/02/2022 04:00 pmQuote from: Robotical on 03/02/2022 03:33 pmI somehow doubt OneWeb is getting those satellites launched or even back. Russia must be running out of feet to shoot itself in. Who would ever be dumb enough to contract their services after this?Putin is obviously mad, there is no reasoning with such a person. The Russian people need to rise up and regain their freedoms. The madman is destroying their future.
Is it common in the launch industry to pay in full upfront? I would never let a contractor in my house with those terms!
So if those further five launches are at least $50M each (discounting the S/C value still in their power) as a conservative assumption, in the event this does not de-escalate soon they're looking at at least $350M immediate loss.
The world really needs a non US competitor.
Now that the US has also closed its airspace to Russian planes,I don't see any way more OneWeb satellites could come to Baikonur.The transport containers were previously transported by AN-124 from Volga-Dnepr Airline.
Quote from: alanr74 on 03/02/2022 05:49 pmThe world really needs a non US competitor.That will be China.https://spacenews.com/chinas-megaconstellation-project-establishes-satellite-cluster-in-chongqing/
Quote from: eeergo on 03/02/2022 05:13 pmSo if those further five launches are at least $50M each (discounting the S/C value still in their power) as a conservative assumption, in the event this does not de-escalate soon they're looking at at least $350M immediate loss.The monetary value is the least of OneWeb's problems. Their insurance may even cover it, or the contract with Arianespace. Hell, you could find the UK government just takes part of the money from Russian funds (risky).The bigger issue is the complete collapse of OneWeb which is a devastating blow to the UK's and Europe's hope for a non US system. It could basically mean starlink becomes the only system out there, or it and Kuiper. The world really needs a non US competitor.
Sorry if this is an off-topic question, but who will most likely cover loss (in the case when Roscosmos doesn't launch or return the money)? OneWeb, Arianespace as a launch provider, or an insurance company?
The bigger issue is the complete collapse of OneWeb which is a devastating blow to the UK's and Europe's hope for a non US system.
Quote from: alanr74 on 03/02/2022 05:49 pmThe bigger issue is the complete collapse of OneWeb which is a devastating blow to the UK's and Europe's hope for a non US system.Complete collapse of OneWeb? That's hyperbole. Yes, they'll probably end up losing some fraction of the ~$350M for these launches (the fraction that went to Roscosmos), and yes this will delay them being able to launch their remaining ~200 satellites. But they already have over 2/3 of their constellation launched. As of some point last year (I think August or September), they hit the point where once their satellites were done with orbit raising, that they could begin offering commercial services above/below 50N and 50S. With the number of launches they've done since then, I wouldn't be surprised if they could extend that to 40N/S or maybe even 30N/S with some cleverness. Is that the whole world? No. But depending on the minimum latitude they can serve, that could still be most or all of Europe, Canada, the US, Japan/SK, parts of China, possibly northern parts of India, parts of Australia, NZ, large parts of South Africa and South America.I guess I'm just saying that I wouldn't count them out yet. ~Jon
Quote from: jongoff on 03/02/2022 09:30 pmQuote from: alanr74 on 03/02/2022 05:49 pmThe bigger issue is the complete collapse of OneWeb which is a devastating blow to the UK's and Europe's hope for a non US system.Complete collapse of OneWeb? That's hyperbole. Yes, they'll probably end up losing some fraction of the ~$350M for these launches (the fraction that went to Roscosmos), and yes this will delay them being able to launch their remaining ~200 satellites. But they already have over 2/3 of their constellation launched. As of some point last year (I think August or September), they hit the point where once their satellites were done with orbit raising, that they could begin offering commercial services above/below 50N and 50S. With the number of launches they've done since then, I wouldn't be surprised if they could extend that to 40N/S or maybe even 30N/S with some cleverness. Is that the whole world? No. But depending on the minimum latitude they can serve, that could still be most or all of Europe, Canada, the US, Japan/SK, parts of China, possibly northern parts of India, parts of Australia, NZ, large parts of South Africa and South America.I guess I'm just saying that I wouldn't count them out yet. ~JonSorry, but that's not how it works. For a constellation like OneWeb whose satellites are in near-polar orbits, You get continuous coverage at latitudes higher than 50 once you have populated half your planes. Below that latitude, you have coverage gaps between every plane and the gaps are an increasing percentage of the total time as latitude decreases, until you only have coverage half the time at the Equator. Incremental increases in number of satellites doe not result in a progressive lowering of the continuous-coverage latitude unless you spend a lot of fuel to do plane changes in existing planes as you add planes, and that is simply not feasible.
