Rassvet
Russia has initiated development of a low-Earth orbit broadband constellation known as Rassvet, (Russian for ‘dawn’) intended as a domestic counterpart to Starlink. The system, developed by Bureau 1440, is designed to provide satellite internet services across remote regions and to support connectivity for transport platforms such as trains and aircraft.
Architecturally, Rassvet follows the now-established model of large-scale LEO broadband systems: a constellation of satellites operating at altitudes of a few hundred to around one thousand kilometers, forming a distributed space segment that provides continuous coverage through orbital motion. User terminals employ electronically steerable or mechanically tracked antennas to maintain links with passing satellites, while gateway stations connect the constellation to terrestrial networks. As with comparable systems, overall capacity is achieved through extensive frequency reuse enabled by spot beams and high-gain antennas, with system throughput scaling with both the number of satellites and the available spectrum.
Although detailed technical specifications have not been fully disclosed, the system is expected to operate in the Ku- and/or Ka-band, consistent with other broadband LEO constellations, balancing available bandwidth against propagation impairments such as rain attenuation. Like modern systems, it is likely to employ adaptive coding and modulation to maintain link reliability under varying channel conditions, dynamically trading data rate against robustness. Inter-satellite links, if implemented, would allow traffic to be routed through the constellation without immediate reliance on ground gateways, improving latency and coverage over sparsely instrumented regions.
Initial deployment has been delayed from 2025 to 2026 due to production constraints, with approximately 156 satellites planned for launch in 2026 and a target constellation of more than 900 satellites by 2035. However, as of early 2026 only a small number of experimental satellites are in orbit, and full operational capability is not expected before around 2027.