A new batch of OneWeb satellites arrives at Vostochny
VOSTOCHNY, May 7. - A new batch of 36 OneWeb satellites arrived at Ignatievo airport (Blagoveshchensk) by an An-124-100 aircraft on Thursday. The specialists of the Space Center Vostochny (a branch of TsENKI, part of Roscosmos) transported the satellites to the cosmodrome.
The process of preparation of the spacecraft for the launch aboard the Soyuz-2.1 b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage, scheduled for May 27, has started today.
All these activities are carried out under the contracts of Glavkosmos (a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) with the European launch services provider Arianespace, which provides and operates the launch of OneWeb spacecraft with the use of the Soyuz launch vehicle, and the Russian-French company Starsem.
The representatives of other Roscosmos enterprises - Progress Space Rocket Center, Lavochkin Association, TsENKI and Glavkosmos - carry out the work with the foreign customers.
Currently, the fleet of OneWeb satellites in the low Earth orbit consists of 182 spacecraft, and hundreds more are to be launched. The upcoming launch should bring the number of OneWeb spacecraft in orbit to 218.
OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites are designed to provide consumers on the ground with high-speed Internet.
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Glavkosmos, JSC is a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos. The main task of the company is to promote the achievements of the Russian rocket and space industry to world markets and to manage complex international projects. Over more than its thirty-year history, the company has successfully fulfilled over 140 international contracts, including the launch of more than 150 spacecraft as a secondary payload.
ROSCOSMOS is a State Corporation established in August 2015 to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Russian rocket and space industry. ROSCOSMOS ensures the implementation of the state policy in space activities and its normative and legal regulations, as well as places orders for the design, production and supply of space equipment and space infrastructure. Its functions also include the development of international space cooperation, as well as the establishing of environment for application of space domain achievements for the social and economic development in Russia.