A large-scale program to build a Russian counterpart to Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation was reported with an estimated price tag of 445 billion rubles. The plan envisions gathering 239 billion rubles from extrabudgetary sources and 115 billion rubles from the state budget to support the development, production, and launch of satellites within a system being designed by the Bureau 1440. The objective is to provide nationwide satellite-based internet service, improve communications for remote regions, and create a domestically controlled network to complement terrestrial infrastructure.
At present the project sits in the interdepartmental approval phase. Officials caution that the figures are preliminary and could shift as detailed feasibility studies and regulatory reviews proceed.
Earlier in the year, reports circulated that a series of tests on laser inter-satellite communications were completed, hinting at a domestic analogue to the American Starlink. In the test, two satellite devices separated by roughly 30 kilometers exchanged around 200 gigabytes of data at a rate of 10 gigabits per second, described as the country’s first successful demonstration of space-based laser links.
Lead contractor Technojet, the operator behind the project under the Bureau 1440 umbrella, publicly stated in early June that the constellation called Internet from Russia would enable communications with moving craft in the upper atmosphere, including objects traveling at speeds up to 12,000 kilometers per hour. The plan envisions each satellite supporting as many as 144,000 subscribers simultaneously, a capacity that proponents claim would outpace the reach of existing global constellations by a substantial margin.
Earlier reports noted Starlink service had expanded to certain regions, including Zimbabwe, illustrating how satellite internet coverage can extend beyond metropolitan centers.