On 30 October, Russia lost another satellite from the "Rassvet" system, which the company "Bureau 1440" is developing as an alternative to Starlink. "Rassvet-3" number 17 burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere after three months in orbit.
This is reported by Defence Express.
The satellite with the number NORAD 100083 was launched on 19 July aboard a "Soyuz-2.1B" launch vehicle as part of a group of 16 spacecraft. According to the publication, after reaching orbit it likely never activated its propulsion system and did not carry out any orbit-raising manoeuvres. Due to atmospheric drag, its altitude gradually decreased until the satellite burned up.
This is already the second "Rassvet" spacecraft to deorbit without activating its propulsion system and without performing orbital corrections. The previous such case occurred on 6 June with satellite No. 4, launched on 23 March as part of the first batch.
At the same time, another spacecraft from the second batch — satellite No. 23 — was saved from deorbiting. On 20 October, Russia raised it from an altitude of 220 kilometres. It is currently at roughly 300 kilometres and continues to climb.
In Defence Express’s assessment, the situation with deploying the "Rassvet" constellation is not critical, although the process is moving slowly. Of the 30 "Rassvet-3" satellites currently in orbit, 26 have already reached an altitude of 500 kilometres. One more spacecraft, No. 11, is also expected to reach this level soon.
The planned orbital altitude for the constellation is 800 kilometres. However, for now satellites from both batches are concentrating at around 500 kilometres, where they spread out and take up the required orbital positions. After that, they are expected to climb higher in sync and distribute themselves along the orbit.
The publication notes that the "Rassvet-3" satellites are already operating in test mode. The company "Bureau 1440" is testing the system and communications terminals in remote areas of Russia. There have also been reports of terminals linked to this system appearing on Russian drones used to carry out attacks on Ukraine.
For comparison, Defence Express cites the experience of Starlink’s first launches: of the 60 satellites placed into orbit during the first launch, ten were unable to reach their planned orbits. Some spacecraft were deliberately deorbited to test the system’s capabilities.
- Earlier, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine published data on 49 Russian and Belarusian enterprises involved in implementing Russia’s low-Earth-orbit broadband data satellite system project, "Rassvet".
- The lead company in implementing the project is LLC “Bureau 1440”, which is part of the IT conglomerate “IKS Holding”. The holding’s companies supply components, manufacture solar panels, subscriber equipment, printed circuit boards, electronic modules and other elements of the system.