Meet Rassvet, Russia’s Answer to Starlink

In late March, The Russian company Bureau 1440 brought the first 16-bit Internet satellites about the new gathering of Rassvet, which is already called by observers and Russian journalists to answer SpaceX’s Starlink. It is an international project that experts say could cover major objectives, which include military and communications activities.

The launch took place on March 23 at 8:24 pm Moscow time from the military’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome using the Soyuz-2.1B launcher, marking the first step in building a base that is expected to have at least 300 satellites by 2030.

“This installation marks the transition from an experimental phase to a production communications service,” Bureau 1440 he announced on the Telegraph. “The Bureau 1440 team completed the process in 1,000 days, which is the time between the launch of test satellites and production satellites.”

The goal of the project is to provide broadband Internet access with a speed of 1 gigabit per second for each user and a latency time of up to 70 milliseconds.

The system has been compared repeatedly Starlinkwho during the war in Ukraine proved to be a an important tool for military communications. Yes, depending on the variety reportsKiev managed to disrupt the communications of some Russian units that relied on Starlink by imposing restrictions on unauthorized terminals.

In this context, then, the Rassvet project is seen as an attempt to create an independent satellite station that can be used by civilians and the military.

Shooting It

The dual use of the Rassvet project is also evident in other operational aspects. The launch of the satellites was not carried out by the Roscosmos space agency but by the Ministry of Defense of Russia through the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

A few days after the inauguration, Russian President Vladimir Putin to be invited The launch of the new constellation is a “big event,” while Roscosmos director Dmitry Bakanov said the Cosmodrome will face “experiments” on the day of the launch.

“Like all communication satellites, they can also be used for military purposes, and thanks to the Starlink power used on the battlefield, Rassvet will also find use there,” says Vitalij Egorov, an astronaut and YouTube administrator. way Otkrytyj Kosmos Zelenogo Kota, or The Open Universe of the Green Cat.

The size of Rassvet’s terminals – several times larger and heavier than those in Starlink – could cause network bottlenecks, says Egorov. “However, the fact that Rassvet’s “secret satellites” were launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome shows the great interest that the Russian Ministry of Defense has in the success of this project.

Independent Russian media reports Rassvet’s funding of 100 billion rubles (about $1.34 billion) from the Russian Ministry of Communications, while the company is said to be ready to invest another 300 billion rubles.

Rassvet vs. Starlink

“Rassvet’s satellites are similar to Starlink’s,” says Egorov. “They are a group of satellites to transmit the Internet, but it would be more accurate to compare them more with the OneWeb system than with Starlink, because Rassvet is designed for commercial companies, public companies, and government customers. Also, Rassvet plans to reach…

The real challenge for Bureau 1440, then, is not so much putting the first satellites into orbit as developing the system on a large scale, Egorov says. To reach a constellation of about 300 satellites in the next few years, the company will have to build one or two satellites a week – a speed that Russian companies have not yet achieved. At the moment, only Egorov, Starlink and OneWeb records can advance such production.