Roscosmos Turns To Private Company For Earth Observation Constellation
Roscosmos had to abandon its Sfera multitask satellite constellation in favor of the Rassvet wideband satellite internet system developed by private company Bureau 1440.
Russia’s Roscosmos state corporation has partnered with privately owned investment company AFK Sistema to develop a new Earth observation satellite constellation.
Under the partnership agreement, signed in Moscow Sept. 18, AFK Sistema subsidiary Sputnix will design the spacecraft and Roscosmos will provide launch services.
“We will both develop spacecraft and supply the data obtained from them to the federal Earth Observation Data Fund for further delivery to end users,” Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov said at the signing ceremony.
During the first phase of the project, the partners will jointly define technical parameters and design the spacecraft, Roscosmos said. The partners provided no further details on the effort.
The partnership aligns with Roscosmos’ new strategy of looking for cheaper and faster solutions from local private manufacturers, a source in the Russian space industry tells Aviation Week. Under previous Roscosmos heads Dmitry Rogozin and Yury Ivanov, the state-owned corporation proposed developing a multirole satellite constellation called Sfera that would include both communication and Earth observation satellites. But the Russian government found it too costly and instead backed private startup Bureau 1440, which is developing the Rassvet wideband Internet constellation similar to Starlink.
The source said the corporation also has to compete now for payload customers with the Russian military, which sells piggyback services on its launches from Plesetsk.
Sputnix has experience as it has designed and manufactured more than 100 cubesats since 2013, both for its parent Sitronix Group and for third-party customers. The company already operates three 20-kg (44-lb.) Zorkiy-2M 12U sats, which can provide Earth imagery with up to 2.5-m resolution.
In July, Sputnix unveiled a new satellite dubbed Kinosputnik with a resolution of 0.7 m. It is expected to be launched in 2026 and become Russia’s most keen-eyed Earth monitoring spacecraft.
Related Content
