It became known that by the end of this year the process of manufacturing Soyuz launch vehicles and Fregat upper stages, which are intended to launch OneWeb satellites, will be completed, a company that declared itself bankrupt at the end of March. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the general director of the Glavkosmos enterprise, part of the state corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Loskutov.
It was noted that most of the funds under this project have already been received by Russian enterprises, so the material and technical part should be fully completed by the end of this year. If OneWeb does not find a buyer and Russian launch vehicles remain unclaimed, then Arianespace, through which the order for the creation of rockets was received, will be forced to look for a new load for them.
βAt best, the OneWeb project will get a second wind, possibly with the participation of new investors. Be that as it may, we hope for the financial recovery of OneWeb, and, of course, we would be interested in continuing to work within the framework of this complex and significant international project,β said Mr. Loskutov.
Let us recall that in 2015, OneWeb and Arianespace entered into an agreement under which it was planned to carry out 21 launches of Soyuz launch vehicles with Fregat upper stages to deliver 672 OneWeb satellites into outer space. Ultimately, OneWeb intended to create a constellation of satellites that would provide broadband Internet services around the world by covering the entire surface of our planet. However, the company's plans were disrupted and in March of this year OneWeb filed for bankruptcy.
Source: 3dnews.ru