MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) - Arianespace has officially notified Glavkosmos about the postponement of the launch of OneWeb satellites, Glavkosmos said on Tuesday.
"In light of the latest information about the additional checks of the OneWeb satellites, Arianespace states that this launch is being postponed from late December 2019 to mid-late January 2020," Glavkosmos said.
"Glavkosmos thanks Arianespace for informing it about this and understands the adjustment of the timing of the OneWeb satellite launch," it said.
Last week, OneWeb said that the launch of 34 satellites had been postponed from December to January due to the need to perform additional tests on them. The spacecraft will be delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in December.
OneWeb said that it is treating the preparations with the utmost care, which is why it is going to carry out several further tests on the satellites in the coming weeks in time for delivery to Baikonur in December. The next launch is due in mid-late January, with over 30 satellites to be launched monthly thereafter, so as to ensure Arctic coverage by the end of 2020 and full 24/7 coverage in 2021, it said.
The launch will be the second out of 21 and the first from Baikonur.
In June 2015, Russian state corporation Roscosmos signed a contract with Arianespace and OneWeb for 21 commercial launches of 672 OneWeb space system satellites using the Soyuz-2 launch vehicles with the Fregat upper stage from the Baikonur and Vostochy cosmodromes and the Guiana Space Center.
The first launch was conducted from the Guiana Space Center this spring. With its total global coverage, the planned orbital grouping should ensure broadband Internet access to users throughout the world.
Glavcosmos is a Roscosmos subsidiary and the state corporation's foreign economic activity operator.