The satellite launch will be the first fully commercial launch from the spaceport
LONDON, November 20. /TASS/. The British company OneWeb named December 17 as the estimated launch date for its 36 communications satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome. This is stated in a message distributed by her on Friday.
"OneWeb reports that December 17, 2020 is the estimated date of return to flight, when the payload of 36 satellites will be launched with the help of [French launch operator] Arianespace from the Vostochny cosmodrome," the British company said in a statement.
The launch of OneWeb satellites will be the first fully commercial launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome. On Thursday, an An-124-100 Ruslan plane with 36 OneWeb communications satellites arrived from the United States in Blagoveshchensk. As specified in Roscosmos, specialists of the Vostochny space center (a branch Of the center for the operation of ground-based space infrastructure) we have already " transported them to the Vostochny cosmodrome, where they will be prepared for the launch on the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle scheduled for December 2020.1B " with the Fregat upper stage.
"Launches will continue throughout 2021 and 2022, and OneWeb is now on track to begin providing commercial connectivity services in the UK and the Arctic region at the end of 2021 and will expand to provide global services in 2022," the company said.
OneWeb's updated agreement with Arianespace involves the launch of 16 Russian Soyuz rockets from the Kourou, Vostochny and Baikonur cosmodromes in 2020-2022. Each launch will put 34-36 OneWeb satellites into orbit. Their production was activated by a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus.