MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) will be provided with broadband internet connecting it with the Earth by the end of the year, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, said on Wednesday.
The communication will be provided using the Luch satellite constellation.
"By the end of this year, broadband communication will be established [at the ISS]," Rogozin said as broadcast by the website of the Russian Central Election Commission.
According to the Roscosmos head, cosmonauts can communicate with the Earth only while over the Russian territory so far, and if necessary, US equipment is used for communications outside these zones.
"Starting in 2021, we will have independence in this matter," Rogozin added.
Meanwhile, one of the Russian cosmonauts voted on constitutional amendments online using US means of communication.
In November, Oleg Khimochko, the first deputy general director of Russian satellite operator Gonets, told Sputnik that equipment to provide a broadband communication channel between the Russian segment of the ISS and Earth via Luch-5 relay satellites had been delivered to the ISS. He added that the channel would start operating in full in 2020, with the speed up to 105 megabits per second.
As of now, the Luch relay satellite constellation includes three spacecraft - Luch-5A, Luch-5B and Luch-5V - which were launched into space from 2011-2014. In 2024, Russia plans to launch the Luch-5VM satellite.
In May, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov said that domestic broadband system to communicate with Earth without using US relay satellites had been tested.
