Roscosmos has signed a contract with French Arianespace and British OneWeb for 21 commercial launches of 672 satellites to be performed with the help of Soyuz booster as from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana and from Baikonur, – Federal Space Agency reports.
If the project is successfully executed the contract stipulates for at least 5 more Soyuz launches after 2020.
In London Arianespace (Evry, France) and OneWeb (Jersey Island, England) Companies announced signing of a contract for 21 launches of OneWeb satellite communication system space devices accomplished with the help of Soyuz boosters within the period from 2017 to 2019.
At least 15 launches will take place from Baikonur and other Russian spaceports.
According to Federal Space Agency data payload will be represented by mini-satellites with phased transmitting array of Ku-range and weighting up to 150 kg. The contract stipulates for setting of 672 space devices into the target near-polar orbit of 1200 km altitude as a part of complex space head up to 5,5 tons per launch.
Space devices for demo-launch scheduled for late 2017 will be manufactured by Airbus Corporation leadplant located in Toulouse 9France), others – by OneWeb and Airbus in Florida.
