Government ‘monitoring’ UK-linked space launch using Russian rockets

The Government owns a £400 million stake in OneWeb, which is due to launch 36 satellites on Friday.

(Boris Bethge/ESA) (PA Media)

No 10 said it is “monitoring” the situation surrounding a Russian-linked satellite launch by a digital company which the UK Government has shares in.

It comes after a senior MP questioned whether OneWeb’s collaboration with the Russian space agency to launch new broadband satellites is appropriate given Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK took a £400 million share in the failed digital firm to rescue it from bankruptcy almost two years ago in a move that allowed it to continue its part in the race to beam internet access across the globe from satellites in low Earth orbit.

Friday’s planned launch of 36 satellites in Kazakhstan will use Russian rockets and be overseen by Russian space experts, according to Labour MP Darren Jones.

The chairman of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has questioned whether the collaboration is “inappropriate” given Russia’s attack on its neighbour.

Downing Street said it was “right” that questions were being raised about “space co-operation” with Moscow, but that the UK Government was “speaking to our partners” involved with the project before saying anything further.

The taxpayer-funded investment in OneWeb in July 2020 bought a “significant equity stake” in the firm, as part of a consortium with India’s Bharti Global, after a bidding war.

In a letter to science minister George Freeman on March 1, Mr Jones said the communications outfit was set to launch the satellites from the “Russian-owned Baikonur Cosmodrome on Russian Soyuz rockets in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos”.

According to reports, the launch is scheduled for 10.41pm UK time on Friday.

Mr Jones, MP for Bristol North West, asked Mr Freeman whether he “considers this situation inappropriate given the current situation” and whether the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy “intends to intervene by engaging with the OneWeb board in its capacity as a major shareholder”.

He also asked whether the department was “assisting” the firm to find “alternative rocket launch availability”.

On Wednesday, Downing Street faced questions about whether the UK Government approved of the launch going ahead.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “It is absolutely right that questions about space co-operation with Russia are being raised following their invasion.

“We are still monitoring that situation carefully in regards to OneWeb.

“We are speaking to our partners and will set out next steps, but I don’t know any more than that at the moment.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tweeted: “There’s no negotiation on OneWeb: the UK Government is not selling its share.

“We are in touch with other shareholders to discuss next steps…”

Pressed on how the launch could “credibly” go ahead given the launch involved “borrowing Putin’s rockets”, the No 10 official said: “I don’t want to pre-empt any further decisions.”

The Prime Minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings is thought to have been influential in the UK’s decision to invest in OneWeb.

With satellite internet services less simple to switch off than terrestrial signals, Mr Cummings suggested this week that situations such as that unfolding in Ukraine were behind the Government’s thinking when making the purchase, as it would allow broadband services to continue in conflict areas.

Responding to businessman Elon Musk making his Starlink satellite service available to Ukraine following the Russian advance, Ms Cummings tweeted: “The capability to do this sort of thing was one of the reasons we discussed for doing OneWeb summer 2020 – it could be a powerful new capability for UK.”