The year 2024 is becoming the time for the start of mass production of devices for the largest satellite constellation in the history of Russia, the Sphere. How will this grouping be organized, what is its significance for citizens and businesses – and why is it one of the key elements of Russia's technological, economic, and even political sovereignty?
One of the main priorities of Russia's digital development is the creation of its own low-orbit satellite constellation to provide fast and cheap Internet access throughout the country. This was stated by the Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadaev. "This grouping should not be inferior in terms of indicators to leading international projects such as Starlink," Shadaev said, talking about the main tasks of the ministry for the coming years.
On May 21, according to one of the leading Russian satellite manufacturers, Reshetnev JSC, an operator company has been identified whose task will be to manage this satellite constellation. According to the decision of the Roscosmos state Corporation, the new orbital groupings will be managed by the Gonets Satellite System joint-stock company, the message says.
The mentioned project is expensive, large–scale and affects not only the Ministry of Finance. For the first time, Roscosmos plans to create a Russian grouping under the working name "Global Multifunctional Infocommunication Satellite System" (GMISS) became known in November 2017. At that time it was called the Ether system and was already planned as a Russian response to foreign broadband Internet access projects – Starlink and OneWeb. At that time, plans were announced to place three hundred satellites in an orbit with a height of 870 kilometers, providing full signal coverage of the Earth's surface. There were plans for extensive international cooperation, both in terms of joint production of devices and in terms of selling the group's services to customers around the world.
Time has made its own adjustments. Long before its inception, Western countries refused to supply Russia with components for the production of satellites. And in 2022, sanctions were actually imposed against the entire space industry. Today, it is not promising to count on a large international project, and the opportunities to offer communication services in other countries are limited. At the same time, the importance of our own production of space technology, independent of foreign players, has increased dramatically.
In 2018-2019, the project changed a lot: the number of spacecraft increased to 640, and the name was changed to "Sphere". The project began to focus more on the immediate needs of Russia and included not only communications, but also navigation, broadcasting, data transmission for the Internet of Things and retransmission. In fact, the Sphere has become a project of a single Russian orbital ecosystem designed to ensure the consistency of various satellite groupings that previously worked autonomously.
Unlike foreign competitors, Roscosmos has followed the path of creating not one global, but several regional systems (by coverage areas on Earth). Currently, five satellite groupings for communication and information transmission and five groupings for remote sensing of the Earth are being created within the scope of the Sphere. Their main objectives will be continuous monitoring of the territory of Russia, including in real time.
The launch of the Sphere's implementation began in October 2022 with the launch of the first satellite of the Skif group into orbit. This grouping is an integral part of the "Sphere" and is responsible for providing broadband Internet access. The Skif-D device (demonstrator) showed an access speed of 6.5 megabits per second. These are not the final figures, for this device, first of all, the testing of new technical solutions is important. Serial satellites are expected to have a bandwidth of 150 gigabits per second.
In total, it is expected that 12 spacecraft of the Skif group will operate in an orbit with a height of about 8 thousand km. This will make it possible to service northern latitudes that are inaccessible to traditional satellites in geostationary orbit, including the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route. For wiring in the ice, a lot of different satellite information is required: the determination of the ice situation, which is carried out using satellite radar, data from meteorological satellites. Multispectral satellite images are needed to refine the cartography of the region. The GLONASS system is needed for navigation, and the system of the so-called Internet of Things of the Marathon series will help to operate special buoys and receive data "from the water". And of course, during the voyage, you need constant communication – both voice and Internet. That's all this together and provides the "Sphere".
The Internet of Things is working with sensors installed on ground–based devices. These can be motion sensors, the condition of machines and mechanisms, in other words, everything that is necessary for remote monitoring of various equipment. A classic example is sensors that report a malfunction of gas pipelines – the signal from them goes first into space, and then is transmitted to earth to repair crews.
By the way, Gazprom is one of the partners of the Sphere. With the direct participation of the corporation, satellites of the Smotr-V series are being created for remote sensing of the Earth. These satellites will solve a wide range of tasks: detailed monitoring of main gas pipelines, detection of methane leaks, control of construction of facilities at fields, cartography and monitoring of license areas, etc.
The Marathon-IoT system for the Internet of Things will include more than 250 devices, they will be placed in 12 orbital planes at an altitude of about 750 km. Conveyor production of these satellites is being created right now. The plans include the modernization of the enterprise and the installation of a new assembly line, which will make it possible to produce five satellites by 2025, and 44 devices by 2026.
The conveyor is a key innovation being implemented in modern satellite production. This is exactly what the "multiple build-up" of spacecraft in near-Earth orbit, mentioned by the head of state, should provide.
A couple of decades ago, satellites could be compared to large universal combines, they were bulky, airtight and assembled on stocks. The design of modern satellites is dramatically simplified, their weight and functionality are reduced, this dramatically increases production capabilities. Their mass launch into orbit is possible with the help of container launches. All the satellites of the Sphere are assembled according to a modern leaky scheme.
In addition, to simplify mass production, it was decided to make spacecraft on a single platform. "Any satellite consists of a universal platform with service equipment, which is responsible for bringing the satellite to a given point, its orientation, opening solar panels, ensuring operability, collecting and transmitting telemetry to Earth. That is, any satellite is 60-70% unified, moreover, only the payload, depending on one or another space grouping… The principle is simple – maximum unification to ensure serial production," the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, described the task of such a platform.
The platform will be used, for example, by groupings of observation and high-detail survey satellites Berkut-O and Berkut-BP, as well as radar monitoring Berkut-X and SMOTR-R. The launch of the first devices is scheduled for 2025, and at the moment the development and expert evaluation of projects are underway.
More recently, it was decided to attach Gryphon microsatellites based on the CubeSat platform to the Sphere project. A group of 136 devices will take pictures of the earth's surface with a resolution of about 2.5 m, with its help it will be possible to receive data every 30 hours from the territory of Russia and at least 38 hours around the world.
The Sphere program also includes conducting scientific research, for example, on the development of a laser communication system between spacecraft. In particular, it is planned to develop two terminals for inter–satellite communications, and subsequently ground–based equipment for space-Earth communications.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the military significance of the Sphere group. Reconnaissance and targeting using both multispectral images and radar data is an essential part of any military operation. The importance of constant secure communication and the ability to work with unmanned vehicles is no less obvious. It can be expected that the entire functionality of the space group will be used to increase Russia's defense capability.
As early as 2024, it will be possible to see the first launches under the program, and from 2026 they should become massive, making up the main payload for Russian launch vehicles.
The Sphere project is characterized by maximum pragmatism and compliance with the most modern production practices. The implementation of the project will make it possible to connect any, even the most remote points of Russia, using satellite Internet. "Already in the horizon of the current decade, it is necessary to provide access to high-speed Internet in almost the entire territory of Russia. We will solve this problem, including by multiplying our satellite constellation. We will allocate 116 billion rubles for its development," President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the Federal Assembly on this occasion.
"Through the expansion of high technologies in the space industry, Russia is strengthening technological, industrial, scientific and geopolitical sovereignty. That is why Putin pays special attention to this issue," said political scientist Alexei Martynov.
The Russian space industry already directly affects the life of every citizen of the country, through GLONASS satellites and navigation on smartphone screens. However, in the coming years, this influence will become much broader. Russian businesses will receive their own, national space communication and monitoring systems. Domestic meteorologists will completely abandon information from Western weather satellites this year. The full functioning and safety of strategic transport corridors will be ensured. And Russia will confirm the status of a great space power, which it deserves as the country of the world's first satellite.
Mikhail Kotov
