The next launch of 34 of the United Kingdom's OneWeb telecommunications satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Russia's Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket is planned over March 20-21, a source from the Russian space industry told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) The next launch of 34 of the United Kingdom's OneWeb telecommunications satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Russia's Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket is planned over March 20-21, a source from the Russian space industry told Sputnik.
"The delivery of the new batch of OneWeb satellites to the cosmodrome is expected on February 25, their launch from March 20-21," the source said.
Roscosmos did not comment on the information.
In June 2015, Roscosmos signed contracts with French company Arianespace and the UK's OneWeb for carrying out a total of 21 commercial launches to bring 672 satellites to space atop the Soyuz rockets from the Kourou, Baikonur and Vostochny spaceports.
OneWeb plans to create a constellation of satellites that will provide broadband internet access to users around the world. In cooperation with Roscosmos, the OneWeb company successfully placed 34 UK satellites into targeted orbits in early February.
In April 2019, OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel said that the initial constellation of 650 satellites would begin to provide commercial services in 2021. The constellation is expected to include about 2,000 satellites by 2026.
