Russia is accelerating the pace of building the Rassvet Internet satellite network with a speed of 1 gigabit per second for both civil and military purposes.

On October 28, Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev reported on the Rassvet satellite Internet system, also nicknamed "Russia's Starlink". Rassvet already has 32 satellites in orbit and Russia plans to increase the number of satellites to 292 by 2027, then reach 900 by 2035.

According to Mezha, Rassvet was developed by private aerospace company Bureau 1440 based in Moscow, Russia. The project's goal is to provide broadband Internet access with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second for each user terminal and signal latency of 70 milliseconds.

Although aimed at civilian purposes, Rassvet also has important military significance, helping the Russian military need to communicate to coordinate actions and control unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The country is increasingly interested in building its own satellite network after losing access to some Starlink devices in Ukraine. In February, SpaceX disabled devices that were not on the special list, causing an estimated 90% of Russian units in Ukraine to lose Internet access, significantly reducing the ability to attack and coordinate operations with UAVs.

The dual-use purpose of the Rassvet project is evident from a number of operational details. The satellite launch is not in charge of the Roscosmos space agency, but is carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defense through the Plesetsk spaceport. "Like all communication satellites, Rassvet is also capable of performing military functions. With Starlink's high effectiveness on the battlefield, Rassvet will also be used there," Wired quoted space expert Vitalij Egorov.

The chosen launch site reflects the Russian government's great interest in the project's success. According to Independent Russian, the Rassvet project received a budget of 100 billion rubles (about 1.34 billion USD) from the Ministry of Communications and the Bureau 1440 company is said to be ready to invest another 300 billion rubles.

The difference between the two Internet satellite networks of the US and Russia lies in the orbital configuration. Starlink is primarily designed to provide coverage to the most densely populated areas. Therefore, the number of satellites moving at high latitudes is relatively small. In contrast, Bureau 1440 chose a near-polar orbit with an inclination of 81.4 degrees, meaning the satellites will fly over territory almost from south to north, covering all of Russia. Signals will be stable in both Crimea and Chukotka as well as the polar region, suggesting the infrastructure is designed to serve institutional and business customers in remote or hard-to-reach areas. According to Bureau 1440, the constellation operates in low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 800 km while Starlink satellites operate 550 km or less above the ground.

Up to now, two launches of Rassvet-3 satellites have taken place on March 23 and July 20, each with 16 units. By the end of September, all 32 spacecraft were below their expected altitude. However, the company has not released enough data to independently evaluate the network deployment process. In addition, Russia also maintains 6 test satellites belonging to the Rassvet-1 and Rassvet-2 networks launched into space from 2023-2024.

The country plans to launch 156 satellites by the end of 2026 and nearly 300 before the system begins operations in 2027. It is expected that the constellation will grow to more than 900 spacecraft over time, compared to more than 11,000 Starlink satellites operating in Earth orbit today.

According to Intellinews, Ukrainian experts predict that Russia can launch the 4th series of Rassvet satellites in March 2027 and ensure 24/7 coverage across the entire territory of Ukraine by the middle of next year.

Rassvet launches depend on Soyuz rockets and the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Therefore, the speed of network deployment depends on production capabilities and the state of the Russian space industry. Egorov assessed that because the Rassvet terminal is much larger and heavier than Starlink, the real challenge for Bureau 1440 is not to put the first satellites into orbit but to industrialize the system on a large scale. To create a constellation of about 300 satellites over the next few years, the company will need the ability to produce 1-2 satellites per week, a pace the Russian space industry has never achieved. So far, only Starlink and OneWeb can maintain such mass production. It is estimated that it will take Bureau 1440 many years and dozens of launches for the network to provide stable coverage, even if limited to Russian territory.

Novye Izvestija said Bureau 1440 was founded in 2020. In 2022, the company changed its name and merged into the Russian technology group X-Holding (or IKS Holding). This parent group owns many companies that specialize in providing software and equipment to Russian security agencies to monitor network traffic, block messaging applications and censor the national Internet.

An Khang summary