SpaceX
Russia’s legislative body, the State Duma, is considering fines for individuals and companies in the country that use Western satellite Internet services. The proposed law aims to prevent access to the Internet through SpaceX’s Starlink service, OneWeb or other developing non-Russian satellite constellations.
According to a recent report in the Russian edition of Popular Mechanics, the recommended fines range from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles ($ 135- $ 405) for ordinary users and 500,000 to 1 million rubles ($ 6,750 to $ 13,500) for legal entities that use Western satellite services.
In the Russian article, translated to Ars by Robinson Mitchell, Duma members say that accessing the Internet independently would bypass the country’s Operational Search Measures System, which monitors Internet usage and mobile communications. As part of the country’s strict control over media and communications, all Internet traffic in Russia must pass through a Russian communications provider.
It is not surprising that Russia has taken steps to block the Starlink service – the country’s space chief, Dmitry Rogozin, sees SpaceX as the main rival in space flights.
Rogozin criticized NASA and the United States Department of Defense for subsidizing SpaceX through government contracts. (While it is true that SpaceX has received multi-billion dollar launch contracts from the US government, it has also provided launch services at a significant discount compared to other providers.) More recently, Rogozin said that Starlink is little more than a scheme to provide US Special Forces with uninterrupted communications.
Starlink, said Rogozin last August, is part of “a very predatory, intelligent, powerful and high-tech US policy that uses Shock and Awe to advance its military interests first.” Rogozin also called SpaceX’s claim that Starlink was created to provide Internet service to 4% of the Earth’s surface not covered by the terrestrial Internet “absurd”.
The OneWeb ban is more interesting, as the company is using the Russian Soyuz rocket to launch almost all of its initial constellation into orbit. Monthly launches of OneWeb satellites are planned for this year, mainly from spaceports in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and Vostochny, Russia. OneWeb is effectively helping to boost the struggle of the Russian launch industry at a time when SpaceX is undermining the country in commercial launch contracts.
In order not to be outdone by Western competitors, Russia is planning its own satellite Internet constellation, known as the “Sphere”. However, there are doubts about the accessibility of this constellation, which could start to be launched in 2024. The program’s budget has not been confirmed, but some reports suggest it could reach $ 20 billion. This is far beyond the amount of money Russia spends in civilian space. The current budget of Roscosmos, the Russian space corporation led by Rogozin, receives about $ 2.4 billion a year.