Roscosmos to expand constellation of meteo satellites for risks of being cut off from U.S., European satellites data - statement

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - The Russian state space corporation Roscosmos will be intensively developing its constellation of meteorological satellites to counter the risk of being cut off from data from European and American satellites, the corporation said in a statement.

"In these circumstances, the Roscosmos state corporation will attach special significance to the development of its constellation of meteorological satellites in orbit in view of the risk of Russia's possible disconnection from data from American and European meteorological satellites," it said.

Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday that the corporation could cancel the launch of OneWeb satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome scheduled for March 5 if it did not receive guarantees that they would not be used for military purposes.

The OneWeb company said on Thursday it was suspending the launches of its satellites from Baikonur.

The United States and the European Union announced sanctions on the Russian space industry on February 24. In response to the European sanctions, Rogozin said Roscosmos was halting the launches of Soyuz rockets from the Guiana Space Center and recalling Russian specialists from there.

Roscosmos said the possible cancellation of the launches of OneWeb satellites would not cause serious economic damage to it. According to Roscosmos, OneWeb satellites would be kept at Baikonur until a definitive decision was made as to whether the launch would be cancelled.