Russia’s space problems: two Rassvet satellites are rapidly losing altitude
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Two Russian communications satellites, Rassvet No. 17 and No. 23, launched into orbit in July of this year, have begun to rapidly lose altitude. If Russia cannot correct their orbits, the devices could burn up in the atmosphere.
This was reported by the Telegram channel Ukraine context, which is considered close to the head of the President’s Office, former head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov.
It is known that the satellites are currently at an altitude of approximately 240–260 km and continue to decline. The rate of orbital decay is reaching 1.6 km per day.
“If the Russians fail to correct their orbits, the satellites will simply burn up in the atmosphere,” the report said.
Clash Report also writes about the problems with the Russian devices. According to the publication, satellite No. 17 has descended to approximately 245 km and is losing altitude by approximately 1.7 km per day.
The publication also recalled that one of the satellites from the previous batch, launched in March, had already burned up in the atmosphere in June.
At the same time, most of the Rassvet project spacecraft are reaching their planned orbits at an altitude of 500–540 km. However, some satellites are experiencing recurring engine failures, which is slowing down the deployment process of the constellation.
According to Clash Report, the satellite connection is currently only available for short periods of time each day, rather than continuously, and the project’s commercial goals have been delayed until at least 2027.
Russian “Rassvet”: what is known about the project
In September, Russia announced the first use of Rassvet satellites to provide communication with ordinary users. According to Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, this system was used to conduct electronic voting at a remote polling station in the Arctic.
Satellites from the Russian company “BUREAU 1440”, which is developing and launching the “Rassvet” constellation, were involved in providing communications.
At the same time, military-political observer of the Information Resistance group, Oleksandr Kovalenko, believes that the project has serious problems. Among the reasons, he cited corruption, the lack of an adequate technical and technological base, as well as the limited capabilities and intellectual potential of the developers.
Earlier it was reported that Ukraine officially appealed to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with a demand not to allow the operation of the Russian military satellite system “Rassvet” over the sovereign territory of Ukraine. Kyiv also called on international partners to support this position and block the use of the system over the territories of other states.
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