Russia launches Rassvet: a direct rival to SpaceX Starlink

Russia is firing the next stage in the race for internet from space – putting a direct rival to SpaceX Starlink into competition.

While Elon Musk’s Starlink network has long been serving tens of thousands of users in war zones and crisis areas, Russia is now launching its own satellite internet system. The first Russian units are already operating in orbits similar to those used by SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. The initiative behind them is politically and militarily highly sensitive.

First launch: 16 Russian satellites enter orbit

On Monday, Russian space company Bureau 1440 placed its first 16 satellites into low Earth orbit. In technical terms, this is only a modest step compared with SpaceX’s thousands of Starlink satellites. Politically, however, the launch delivers an unambiguous message: Russia no longer wants to remain merely an observer in satellite internet.

With its first 16 satellites, Russia is moving beyond experimentation and beginning to build its own communications network – with global ambitions.

The company is pursuing the same underlying model as Starlink: hundreds or thousands of small satellites are intended to form a dense network around Earth, enabling fast internet connections everywhere – including places where fibre-optic and mobile networks are unavailable or have been destroyed in war.

Rassvet project: Russia’s response to Starlink

The Russian network is being developed under the name “Rassvet” (roughly translated as “Dawn”). The project name represents more than technology alone. Moscow aims to free itself from dependence on foreign infrastructure and create a “sovereign” satellite network.

The objective is proprietary high-speed internet from orbit, controlled by Russian authorities and businesses. This gives the Kremlin another instrument in its technological and information conflict with the West.

A strategic lesson from the war in Ukraine

One reason for the accelerated development is likely to be Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Starlink has played a crucial role there since 2022. Ukrainian authorities, military forces and aid organisations use terminals to stay connected even when infrastructure has been destroyed.

According to media reports, SpaceX has implemented a technical restriction that blocks Russian access to the network. A type of “whitelist” now permits only certain Ukrainian terminals deemed legitimate to retain permanent access, while devices on the Russian side are largely excluded.

The shutdown of Russian access to Starlink painfully demonstrated to Putin’s military how vulnerable it is without its own satellite network.

For Moscow, this represents a strategic embarrassment. In practice, a private Western company helps determine who can communicate reliably in a war zone. Rassvet is intended to eliminate precisely this weakness.

Multibillion-dollar programme: Russia invests heavily in space internet

The Russian state and Bureau 1440 are committing substantial resources to the project. Russian media and official sources say that several billion US dollars will be invested in building the system over the coming years.

Funding source	Planned amount	Period
Russian government	1.26 billion US dollars	until the mid-2030s
Bureau 1440 (own funds)	4 billion US dollars	until 2030

The programme therefore totals more than 5 billion US dollars from its outset. For Russia, whose economy is under sanctions, this is a clear commitment: access to internet from space is regarded as a strategically vital technology.

Satellite plans to 2035: from 16 to 900 units

The 16 launched satellites are only the beginning. Dmitry Bakanov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has outlined ambitious expansion plans.

• by next year: commercial operation with around 250 satellites
• by 2035: more than 900 satellites in low Earth orbit in total
• planned: “dozens of launches” over the coming years

By comparison, SpaceX has already launched or planned around 10,000 Starlink satellites and expands its network every month. Russia is therefore starting from a significant disadvantage, but is trying to close the gap through major leaps.

How close can Rassvet come to Starlink?

Technical details of the Russian system have so far been made public only in fragments. One point is clear: a constellation of 900 units cannot deliver the global coverage and capability of a mega-network such as Starlink. For Russia, though, those numbers may be sufficient to supply its domestic market, allied countries and selected strategic regions as priorities.

A gradual upgrade is also possible: smaller satellites can be replaced when necessary, fitted with more advanced radio equipment, or placed more densely in orbit as new rocket launches become available.

Technology, power and control: what Moscow is really seeking

Officially, Russia promotes the scheme with conventional arguments: fast internet for rural areas of Siberia, improved coverage for remote industrial zones, and digital services in polar regions. Behind the scenes, however, the project is about considerably more.

Satellite internet is not just a business model, but an instrument of power – whoever controls the networks controls information.

An independent network gives Russia several levers at once:

• Military communications: Dedicated secure channels for troop command, drone control and reconnaissance.
• Propaganda and censorship: Control over the content carried through the network within its sphere of influence.
• Technological independence: Reduced exposure to Western sanctions or political pressure.
• Industrial policy: A stronger domestic space and communications sector.

The situation closely resembles the competition over navigation systems: US GPS, the EU’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou and Russia’s GLONASS operate in parallel so that no major power has to depend on another for positioning services. The same pattern is now emerging for internet from space.

What does this mean for users – including those in Europe?

In the short term, little will change for the average internet user in Germany. Starlink remains the leading brand for civilian use. In rural EU areas, private households, farms and small businesses already turn to Starlink dishes when DSL and 5G fail.

Over the medium term, however, a Russian rival could harden geopolitical divisions further. Countries within Moscow’s sphere of influence may increasingly use Russian terminals – because of political loyalty and, in some cases, lower costs. Europe faces the question of how dependent it wishes to be on US or Russian operators.

The EU is therefore developing its own constellations in parallel, including the planned “IRIS²” infrastructure project, which is also intended to provide secure satellite communications. Orbit is increasingly becoming the arena for a global competition over infrastructure.

Risks in Earth orbit: space debris and collisions

Every new constellation intensifies one problem: space debris. Thousands of additional units in low Earth orbit increase the risk of collisions. Space agencies are already warning of “traffic chaos” in orbit.

For a system such as Rassvet to operate safely, it needs effective orbital monitoring, collision-avoidance manoeuvres and clear international agreements. Any malfunction or collision can create new debris clouds that threaten other satellites – including civilian weather satellites and Earth-observation missions.

Russia faces a dilemma. On the one hand, it wants to place as many units in space as possible to become independent. On the other, the functionality of its own network depends on orbit not becoming uncontrollably littered with debris.

What terms such as “low Earth orbit” mean

Like Starlink, the new Russian service relies on satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). This refers to altitudes of roughly 300 to 1,200 kilometres above Earth. In this region, signal delay is significantly lower than with traditional television satellites at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres.

For users, that means lower latency while browsing and gaming, better video calls, and performance that is generally closer to a fixed broadband connection. The trade-off is that operators must launch very large numbers of units, because each individual satellite can cover only a relatively small area of Earth at one time.

It will be important to see how densely Bureau 1440 builds its constellation, which antenna technology it uses and the prices at which connections are offered. Affordable tariffs could make the system attractive to countries that have so far lacked access to modern networks – and in turn increase Moscow’s political influence.