Russia has announced its own analogue of Starlink – the Rassvet satellite internet system
Russia is planning to create its own satellite Internet system – an analogue of the American Starlink from Elon Musk's SpaceX company. This was stated by Dmitry Bakanov, CEO of the Russian aerospace company Bureau 1440, the press service of the Russian government reports.
According to Bakanov, the project called "Rassvet" involves the launch of a low-orbit satellite system to provide broadband Internet.
He also added that thanks to this project, the accuracy of the Russian GLONASS navigation system for controlling drones will increase to 2.5 meters.
The project was discussed at a strategic session chaired by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on May 20.
They decided to include initiatives in the field of nuclear energy ("Space Atom") and fundamental research ("Space Science") in the new national project for space exploration.
As part of the scientific component, deep space research is planned using the new Russian astrophysical observatory "Spectr-UV", which will replace the existing station "Spectr-RG".
Prime Minister Mishustin said that more than $12 billion (1 trillion rubles) is needed to develop Russia's space industry in the next three years, and about $56 billion (4.5 trillion rubles) by 2036.
However, despite ambitious plans, the Russian space industry currently lags significantly behind leading nations.
By the end of 2024, Roscosmos had carried out only 17 space launches – two fewer than in 2023 and four fewer than in 2022. For comparison, the US carried out 145 launches, and China – 68.
- The Belarusian army received an allegedly domestic analogue of the Starlink broadband internet system – "Kulis".
- On March 26, Bloomberg reported that Starlink terminals can be purchased on black markets around the world.
- On May 9, it became known that the Pentagon and SpaceX are "successfully resisting" unauthorized use of Starlink in Russia, including by the military.
- On December 16, it was reported that the EU would invest over $11 billion in Elon Musk's Starlink alternative.
