After Russia barred SpaceX from using its rockets, Elon Musk’s company has formed a partnership with satellite company OneWeb.
Russia was supposed to assist a satellite company backed by the United Kingdom in launching satellites on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket.
However, the launch scheduled for earlier this month was cancelled due to OneWeb’s inability to meet Russia’s requirements.
Russia has stated that it will not launch OneWeb’s satellites into space unless the British government sells its significant stake in the company.
OneWeb would have had to agree that the satellites would not be used for military purposes as well.
Because these conditions were not met, Russia cancelled the original March 4 flight.
Due to the launch delay, OneWeb is now behind schedule in completing its internet satellite constellation.
Fortunately, OneWeb has agreed to use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets instead.
In a statement, OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said, “We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the limitless potential of space.”
“With these launch plans in place, we’re on track to complete the construction of our entire fleet of satellites and provide robust, fast, secure connectivity around the world.”
OneWeb has not stated how many satellites will be launched by SpaceX for it.
Sixty-six percent of the company’s satellites are already in orbit.
That’s an impressive fleet of 428 OneWeb satellites that are already in orbit.
Because Musk is also launching his own fleet of satellites called Starlink, SpaceX and OneWeb are technically direct competitors.
The financial terms of the agreement reached by OneWeb and SpaceX have not been disclosed, but the latter can charge around $69 million (£52 million) to launch a Falcon 9 rocket.
This isn’t the first time Musk has used SpaceX to take a stand against Russia.
The billionaire previously stated that SpaceX will save the International Space Station if Russia attempts to drop it from orbit in response to threats made by Vladimir Putin’s space chief.
He also ensured that his Starlink satellites were providing internet access to Ukraine, and he sent more dishes to the country so that more people could connect.
