Washington has thwarted several launches of European satellites outfitted with U.S. equipment, which were to be sent into orbit by Russia’s Proton rocket, reported on Monday Russian daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.
According to specialized journalist Peter Selding, the U.S. sanctions target, inter alia, the Astra 2G telecommunications satellite of Luxembourg manufacturer SES, which was scheduled for launching in June from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Proton-M carrier rocket. The launch of the Inmarsat 5 F2 satellite was also canceled. Turkish satellite Turksat 4B, which was to go into orbit this summer, has equally been hit by the sanctions.
The U.S. measures affect all companies planning to launch their devices under existing contracts with the Russian-American company International Launch Services, belonging to the Khrunichev Space Center, as well as the satellites that would be launched as a associated payload using the Soyuz and Dniepr rockets.
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