SpaceX will launch Spanish satellite instead of Russia
The U.S. company, SpaceX, received a contract for the lunch of a Spanish satellite that Russian Kosmotras failed to implement due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to information published on the customer’s website, the Spanish company, Hisdesat, has signed an agreement with SpaceX on the launch of the Earth radar observation satellite, PAZ.
The Falcon 9 carrier rocket will deliver this satellite into orbit. The numerous achievements of other companies that have used it serve as a good basis for selecting this particular carrier rocket. The launch is scheduled for the last quarter of 2017 from the cosmodrome at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The PAZ satellite was developed and manufactured by the European aerospace company Airbus.
Earlier it was planned for the Dnepr carrier rocket, co-produced by Russia and Ukraine, to be used for the launch of the spacecraft. The contract between Rosoboronexport and the Spanish company was signed in 2015 as part of the International Aviation and Space Show (IASS).