Russia issues ultimatum on UK satellite launch
Roscosmos will cancel the launch of a rocket with OneWeb satellites scheduled for March 5 unless there are guarantees that the system will be used only for civilian purposes.
Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced this on the Rossiya-24 television channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Today we are making a request to our French colleagues from Arianespace, as well as OneWeb, demanding that within two days they provide us with comprehensive legal guarantees that OneWeb will not use these satellites for military purposes and will not provide these services to the relevant military departments.
We have until 21.30 on March 4, when the so-called refueling commission will meet. Then the work on organizing the launch will be irreversible.
If by this time we do not receive confirmation from our partners, the rocket will be removed from the launch pad and the satellites will be sent to the installation and testing building,” Rogozin said.
Earlier, Rogozin laughed at the leadership of the European Space Agency, which is planning, “based on European values,” to refuse to launch satellites into orbit using Russian Soyuz rockets and is “studying the possibility of using European rockets.” According to Rogozin, Europe does not have its own missiles.
Meanwhile, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Roscosmos continue to cooperate as usual, despite the situation in Ukraine.
Russia issues ultimatum to UK over satellite launch