A satellite built for Rassvet, Russia’s answer to Starlink, burned up on 30 October, Ukrainian defense outlet Defense Express reported. It is the network’s second loss since launches began in March. A third stricken satellite may have been saved, though sources disagree.

On 5 February, Ukraine and SpaceX blocked the Starlink terminals Russian troops had used without permission. Officially, Rassvet is a commercial internet service. If it works, though, Russian forces could get satellite links that Kyiv has no US company to ask to switch off. The EU’s 21st sanctions package targeted Rassvet in July but left its operator, Bureau 1440, off the list.

A satellite that apparently never maneuvered

Satellite No. 17 went up on 19 July aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with 15 others. It apparently never fired its engine, Defense Express wrote. After 103 days, residual air drag pulled it low enough to burn.

No. 23 was sinking too. On 20 October, at 220 km, Bureau 1440 managed to start lifting it, and it keeps climbing, Defense Express said. Space analyst Anatoly Zak’s launch page still lists it among satellites expected to fall, citing the Aerospace Corporation. Public tracking data from 1 November put it at about 316 km, marked active.

Slow, but working

Of the 30 satellites in orbit, 26 have reached about 500 km, Defense Express said. The outlet described that as a staging altitude before a joint climb to the planned 800 km. Russian telecom outlet ComNews offered another reading in July: Bureau 1440 had likely lowered the working orbit to 514 km. The company’s press office did not answer ComNews.

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The first loss followed the same pattern. Satellite No. 4, from the March batch, fell in early June without ever raising its orbit.

The serial satellites are already in test use. At a Moscow tech forum on 7 October, Bureau 1440 showed a video call over Rassvet to Adygea, a Russian republic, according to ComNews. Its first such demo, in 2023, ran on test satellites.

Flat objects on Russian Molniya-2 drones were reported as Rassvet terminals. Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, rejected that, and Defense Express concluded they are probably not.