UK-backed OneWeb to use rival SpaceX rockets after Russian ban

A Soyuz carrier rocket launching with a batch of 36 OneWeb satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur region, Russia, in December 2020. Photograph: Roscosmos Handout/EPA

OneWeb, the satellite company part-owned by the British state, is turning to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for help after it was barred from using Russian rockets to launch its latest orbiters.

Under the arrangement, the communications firm will partner with SpaceX for its first launches later this year, adding to the 428 micro-satellites it already has in low-earth orbit.