Is Russia's rival to Starlink failing? Here's what we know.
At least three of the first 32 Rassvet satellites likely suffered outright failures, and more may be in trouble.
Russia's ambitious plan to rival SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, known as the Rassvet program, appears to be lagging significantly behind schedule. Launched earlier this year, the Rassvet program has only managed to deploy 32 satellites into low-Earth orbit, representing just a small fraction of the 300 satellites Russia aims to send into orbit by the end of next year.
The company leading the Rassvet initiative, Bureau 1440, has set a target of deploying 924 satellites by 2035 to provide connectivity for both military and civilian users.
However, the progress of the Rassvet satellites has been far from smooth. Despite being designed to operate in a 500-mile (800-kilometer) orbit, none of the 32 satellites launched so far have reached their intended altitude. The rockets that carried the first two batches of Rassvets have instead deployed the satellites much closer to Earth. These satellites are expected to use their own plasma engines to gradually raise their orbits over the coming months.
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