Vostochny cosmodrome continues intensive preparations for the upcoming launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and a new batch of OneWeb spacecraft. On March 1, 2021, a special board with ground support equipment and two dispensers of a foreign customer for devices arrived at the Ignatievo airport in Blagoveshchensk.
Specialists of the Vostochny Space Center (a branch of the Center for Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Facilities, part of the Roskosmos State Corporation) accepted the cargo, provided support for unloading, installation on vehicles and transportation of equipment to the technical complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome. The employees of the branch also unloaded the blocks at the warehouse. The dispenser is an integral part of the spacecraft – it is a transitional link between the upper stage and spacecraft.
The second batch of spacecraft from OneWeb, owned by the British government and the Bharti Global group of companies, arrived at the cosmodrome yesterday. The technical complex is already preparing them for the launch scheduled for March 2021 on the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage.
This launch will be the second fully commercial launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome. It is being implemented by the European launch services provider Arianespace for OneWeb. Glavkosmos (a subsidiary of the Roscosmos State Corporation) is responsible for launching OneWeb vehicles using Soyuz-2 launch vehicles under contracts with Arianespace and the Russian-French company Starsem.
Currently, the constellation of satellites OneWeb in low Earth orbit has 110 spacecraft, it is planned to launch hundreds of others. The first six OneWeb satellites were launched on February 28, 2019 from the Guiana Space Center (French Guiana) using the Soyuz-ST launch vehicle and the Fregat upper stage. Another 34 satellites were launched into orbit on February 7 and March 22, 2020 from the Baikonur cosmodrome using Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicles and Fregat upper stages. In December, another 36 spacecraft were launched from Vostochny. The upcoming launch should bring the number of OneWeb satellites in Earth orbit to 146 units. LEO OneWeb spacecraft are designed to provide terrestrial consumers with high-speed Internet directly via satellite communications.