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<\/p>\nRussia intends to switch on a commercial version of its homegrown answer to Starlink next year, according to people familiar with the programme cited by Reuters, the latest milestone in a project that has been promising to arrive for most of a decade.<\/p>\n
The constellation is called Rassvet, the operator is a private aerospace firm called Bureau 1440, and the ambition is deliberately narrower than the American network it is meant to rival.<\/p>\n
The scale tells the story. SpaceX has put thousands of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Bureau 1440 plans to reach commercial service in 2027 with a constellation in the high hundreds, with figures around 288 to 292 satellites cited for the first operational phase, and a longer-term target near 900 by the mid-2030s.<\/p>\n
Moscow has, for years, described the goal as something conceptually like Starlink rather than a like-for-like match, and the numbers keep that promise honest.<\/p>\n
The hardware is further along than the rhetoric alone would suggest. In March the company launched 16 operational satellites, on 23 March, following a run of experimental craft in 2023 and 2024 under the Rassvet-1 and Rassvet-2 test programmes.<\/p>\n
TNW City Coworking space – Where your best work happ<\/a>ens<\/p>\n A workspace designed for growth, collaboration, and endless networking opportunities in the heart of tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Bureau 1440 has described the satellites as carrying 5G non-terrestrial-network communications, laser inter-satellite links, an upgraded power system, and plasma thrusters, the standard kit for a modern broadband constellation.<\/p>\n Dmitry Bakanov, head of the Roscosmos space agency, told Reuters last September that several test vehicles already in orbit had been inspected and the production satellites modified accordingly.<\/p>\n Throughput targets have been published too. Bureau 1440 has advertised per-subscriber speeds ranging from 50 megabits to one gigabit per second, with planned coverage across more than 70 countries.<\/p>\n Those figures are claims rather than demonstrated performance, the distinction that separates a constellation on a slide from one carrying paying traffic, and only the commercial launch will test them.<\/p>\n Money has been committed, on paper at least. The Russian government has earmarked 102.8 billion roubles, roughly $1.26bn, for Rassvet, and Bureau 1440 has said it will add some 329 billion roubles, around $4bn, of its own through 2030.<\/p>\n The company has put potential demand at 1.5 to two million subscribers inside Russia and as many as 12 million worldwide, with coverage planned across more than 70 countries.<\/p>\n The 2027 date deserves a footnote. An earlier target slipped amid reported production shortfalls, which is the kind of detail that tends to recur in constellation programmes everywhere, not only in Russia.<\/p>\n Building satellites is one problem; building them fast enough, in the numbers a useful network requires, is a different and harder one. The 16 operational craft now in orbit are a start on a figure that needs to clear 250 before paying customers can be served.<\/p>\n There is a strategic reading that sits underneath the commercial one. A sovereign broadband network that does not depend on a foreign operator is attractive to any government that has watched Starlink become a factor in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Whether Rassvet arrives on schedule, and at the throughput Bureau 1440 advertises, is the question 2027 will answer. The constellation, for now, is mostly a plan with a launch cadence attached.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n