Moscow. September 25. INTERFAX-A batch of 36 British OneWeb communication satellites has arrived in Russia, Roscosmos reported on Saturday.
"A new batch of 36 OneWeb spacecraft has been delivered to Ignatievo Airport (Blagoveshchensk) by An-124-100 aircraft," the state corporation said, noting that they will be transported to the Vostochny cosmodrome during the day.
"The launch is scheduled for next month, "Roscosmos said.
Earlier, the head of the press service of Roscosmos, Vladimir Ustimenko, said that the state corporation plans to launch three rockets with OneWeb satellites from different cosmodromes by the end of the year.
The launch of the British OneWeb communication satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome is scheduled for October 14, said the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.
The previous launch of the Soyuz-2.1 b rocket with OneWeb satellites took place from the Baikonur cosmodrome on September 14, it brought the number of spacecraft of this series in orbit to 322 units.
The first such satellites were launched into orbit in February 2019 from the space center in French Guiana.
The British company plans to complete the deployment of a satellite constellation to provide global coverage by June 2022. According to OneWeb, the grouping in low Earth orbit will consist of 648 satellites.
In June 2015, Roscosmos signed a contract with Arianespace for the commercial launch of 672 communications satellites of the OneWeb space system on Soyuz-2 launch vehicles with Fregat family upper stages from the Baikonur, Vostochny, and Kourou cosmodromes. The contract value was $1.2 billion.
On April 23, 2021, the head of Roscosmos announced that the state corporation and OneWeb held negotiations on April 9 at Baikonur to conclude a new contract for the launch of the second generation of the company's devices. On August 23, Rogozin told Interfax that OneWeb positively assesses the work with Roscosmos and is considering the possibility of concluding a new contract, but the signing may fail due to US sanctions.