Russia will launch a demo satellite for a broadband internet system, dubbed Skif, by October 2022, while the entire 12-satellite grouping will be deployed by 2027, satellite provider ISS-Reshetnev, a part of state space corporation Roscosmos, said Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Russia will launch a demo satellite for a broadband internet system, dubbed Skif, by October 2022, while the entire 12-satellite grouping will be deployed by 2027, satellite provider ISS-Reshetnev, a part of state space corporation Roscosmos, said Monday.
In an interview with ISS-Reshetnev's corporate newspaper, Siberian Sputnik, Alexander Kuzovnikov, the deputy director general designer for the development of space systems, spacecraft general engineering and control, mentioned the need to confirm the request to the International Telecommunication Union for a frequency range until October 2022.
"This can be done by manufacturing a demonstration satellite, which we will use to test key technologies related to spacecraft development as well as confirm the possibility of setting up a grouping of 12 satellites at the altitude of 8,700 kilometers [5,014 miles]," Kuzovnikov said.
According to the newspaper, the demonstration satellite should be sent into orbit no later than September 2022.
Skif is part of the Sfera constellation, inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, to challenge the existing OneWeb and Starlink constellations of communication satellites, developed in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively.
