MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — The next chapter for a satellite manufacturing company in Brevard County remains up in the air after its main customer made a hard pivot away from launching in Russia. 

Airbus OneWeb Satellites (AOS) on Merritt Island has been in operation since 2019 and, on average, completes two washing machine-sized satellites each day. Its primary customer is the satellite internet company, OneWeb. 

What You Need To Know

  • Officials with Airbus OneWeb Satellites said they were not able to discuss the situation in detail

  • The company manufactures satellites on behalf of their primary customer, OneWeb

  • Roscosmos officials have not said what will become off the satellites currently on its Soyuz rocket

The company issued the following statement to Spectrum News on Thursday: 

“We are monitoring the situation closely together with our partner, customer and suppliers. It is premature to comment in detail about the impact of sanctions.” 

Those sanctions were ones imposed by the U.K. government against Russia for its invasion in Ukraine. In response to those sanctions, Russian space agency Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin issued an ultimatum to the U.K.: Divest from OneWeb or we won’t launch your batch of satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

Kwasi Karteng, the U.K. business and energy secretary, swatted down that demand and said they would not negotiate.

Thursday morning, the board of OneWeb issued a one sentence statement on the escalations:

“The Board of OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur.” 

The 12-member board is led by Sunil Bharti Mittal. His company, Bharti Global, owns the controlling shares of OneWeb. 

Roscosmos has not directly responded to the latest move from OneWeb.

Back in Florida, it’s unclear how these latest developments will impact production of the satellites at the AOS facility. It also remains to be seen what will happen with the 36 satellites that remain in Baikonur.