Russia's Starlink Rival Lost 2 Satellites, Files for Rassvet-4

What went wrong with Rassvet-3

The March and July 2026 launches put 32 Rassvet-3 satellites into orbit. Getting them to the right place has been the problem.

Both launches ran into deployment trouble. Several spacecraft struggled to climb to their intended 800 km operating altitude, and two have already reentered Earth's atmosphere, according to TechRadar's reporting. That leaves 30 in orbit, and as of November 3 only 26 had stabilized — at roughly 508 km, not 800.

That gap matters. A satellite internet constellation is designed around specific altitudes for coverage, latency and ground-station geometry. Sitting 300 km low throws off the math, and it also means more atmospheric drag, which shortens a satellite's useful life unless it can keep raising itself.

The operator, Bureau 1440, said in September that engineers were working on an improved Rassvet-3 version. The ITU filing suggests that work may already have a name.

Rassvet-4: 374 satellites, 17 orbital planes

The ITU paperwork describes a constellation of 374 spacecraft orbiting at about 800 km, split across 17 orbital planes of 22 satellites each.

That is a bigger, more structured design than what Rassvet-3 was meant to be, and it points to an upgraded spacecraft rather than a separate network. Russian authorities have not officially announced Rassvet-4, so the filing is the main evidence it exists.

The documentation is thin on the parts that matter. Operating frequencies and antenna beam configuration are only partly described: each satellite would carry 12 antenna beams, seven for transmission and five for reception. That is a workable design for regional coverage, but it tells us little about throughput or user-terminal costs.

The timing is also unclear. TechRadar notes that Russia could slip upgraded spacecraft into the next scheduled launch without announcing it first — a quiet swap rather than a ribbon-cutting.

The military drone connection is still a rumor

Photos have circulated of a Molniya-2 drone carrying an unidentified object that looks like a satellite terminal. Nobody has confirmed what it is.

If the object is a Rassvet user terminal, it would suggest Russia wants the network for military communications as much as consumer broadband. That would not be surprising — Starlink's role in Ukraine made satellite internet a defense question everywhere — but the resemblance is not proof.

For now, treat it as speculation. The identity of the object has not been independently established, and its link to Rassvet remains unconfirmed.

What this means for the Starlink challenge

Rassvet was never going to match Starlink satellite for satellite. The question is whether it can deliver anything reliable at all.

Starlink operates thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit. Rassvet-4's 374 spacecraft would be a regional system by comparison, likely aimed at Russia and nearby territory rather than global coverage. That can still be strategically useful — an independent network that Moscow controls — but it is a different product.

The Rassvet-3 failures push the timeline back and raise the cost of getting it right. Filing for a successor before the first generation works is a sign of urgency, not confidence.

Other countries are watching the same gap. Ukraine has been testing small satellites to reduce its reliance on Starlink, and Europe has its own constellation plans. The lesson from Rassvet-3 is that building the satellites is the easy part; putting them where they belong is not.

Availability and pricing

There is no consumer product here yet. Rassvet is a Russian state-linked project, and no pricing, terminal details or service dates have been announced for any market, including the US, UK or EU.

For readers outside Russia, the practical impact is indirect: it shapes the satellite internet competition that Starlink, OneWeb and Europe's IRIS² program are all racing to define.

Rassvet-3 has lost two satellites and most of the rest are in the wrong orbit. A 374-satellite Rassvet-4 filing suggests Moscow is already looking past it. Whether that is a fix or a fresh start, the network is further from working than the announcements implied.