Russia To Launch All Contracted UK OneWeb Satellites By 2022-2023 - Roscosmos Chief

The contract obligations for the launch of OneWeb communications satellites for the United Kingdom on board Russia's Soyuz carrier rockets will be fulfilled in late 2022 or the first half of 2023, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, said on Friday

BAIKONUR (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2021) The contract obligations for the launch of OneWeb communications satellites for the United Kingdom on board Russia's Soyuz carrier rockets will be fulfilled in late 2022 or the first half of 2023, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, said on Friday.

"We are planning [to launch all satellites] until the end of 2022, but practically speaking, it will probably be the first half of 2023 due to the fact that we had delays in the deliveries of spacecraft last year," Rogozin told reporters.

Later on Friday, delegations of Roscosmos and OneWeb will hold talks with the expectation of continued cooperation.

In January, a source told Sputnik that Russia was going to conduct three OneWeb launches in 2021, namely in March, April and May, taking 36 satellites to orbit each time. Two more launches supposedly in June and July are still under consideration.

OneWeb is set to start providing commercial satellite communications services later this year and to deploy a 648-satellite constellation by the end of 2022. This will ensure broadband internet access to users from around the globe, thanks to full coverage of the Earth's surface.