12 Apr 2021 11:48

Roscosmos, British company OneWeb negotiating new contract

MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - Roscosmos hopes to sign a contract with the British company OneWeb on the launch of second-generation satellites, Roscosmos First Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance Maxim Ovchinnikov said in an interview with Interfax.

"They will have second-generation satellites which we would like to launch with our rockets, including the prospective ones. The negotiations are underway, it's too early to speak about results, but we will do everything we can to get this contract," Ovchinnikov said.

In June 2015, Roscosmos and Arianespace signed a contract for 21 commercial launches of 672 telecom satellites of OneWeb by Soyuz-2 rockets with Fregat booster stages from the Baikonur and Vostochny cosmodromes and the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The contract had a value of $1.2 billion.

According to OneWeb Executive Chairman Greg Wyler, the company plans to put 1,980 satellites into orbit, including about 900 first-generation satellites and about 1,000 second-generation satellites.