Page 78 - SAMENA Trends - March 2020

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Fourth Successful Launch in 2020 for Arianespace

Saturday’s launch, Flight ST28, was aims to deliver high-speed internet through in 2021. The satellite prime contractor is
the 28th Soyuz mission carried out by a next-generation satellite constellation OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between
Arianespace and Starsem from Baikonur that will be able to provide connectivity OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space.
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Performed to everyone, everywhere. OneWeb’s The satellites are built in Florida, USA and
on Saturday, March 21 at 10:06 p.m. local system will be comprised of an initial 650 Toulouse, France on dedicated assembly
time at Baikonur Cosmodrome (17:06 satellites and will provide global coverage lines.
UTC), Flight ST28 orbited 34 new OneWeb
satellites – bringing the total in orbit
to 74. “I am very proud of the teams at
Arianespace, Starsem and their partners
here in Baikonur and also in French Guiana
for having performed four successful
launches within a 10-week period,
including two on behalf of OneWeb,” said
Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer
of Arianespace. The first 40 satellites in
the OneWeb constellation were orbited by
Arianespace in two missions: the first six
in February 2019 from the Guiana Space
Center in Kourou, French Guiana; and the
next 34 in February 2020 from Baikonur
Cosmodrome. Satellite operator OneWeb

Russia Ready to Launch Multi-Satellite Orbital Groups

The launch of British OneWeb satellite groups of complex orbital OneWeb’s constellation to 74 satellites
communications satellites by the Soyuz configuration," Rogozin wrote on his in low Earth orbit. The first six OneWeb
2.1b carrier rocket showed that Russia Twitter account. The Soyuz 2.1b rocket satellites were launched on February 28,
is ready for deploying multi-satellite with the Fregat-M booster and 34 OneWeb 2019 from the Kourou spaceport in French
orbital groups, Head of Roscosmos Space satellites blasted off on March 21 from Guiana by the Soyuz-ST carrier rocket.
Corporation Dmitry Rogozin said. "By this the Baikonur spaceport. Several hours Another 34 satellites were sent to the orbit
launch we proved that our equipment is later all satellites were delivered to the by the Soyuz 2.1b rocket from the Baikonur
ready for a swift deployment of multi- designated orbits. This launch expanded spaceport on February 7. Later in 2020,
the UK-made communications satellites
will be launched from the Vostochny
spaceport in Russia's Far East for the first
time. Overall, OneWeb plans to deploy
some 600 satellites in low Earth orbit.
By 2021, the British company expects to
ensure full-time communication for users
around the globe. Russia plans to create
its own multi-satellite orbital group Sfera
in the future. Earlier, Rogozin announced
that Roscosmos would allocate funds
in 2020 to launch the works on creating
the layout of the Sfera orbital group. The
Sfera program was highlighted by Russian
President Vladimir Putin during his annual
Q&A session on June 7, 2018. Russia plans
to launch over 600 communications and
Earth’s remote sensing satellites in the
next few years, he said.

78 MARCH 2020