The ‘Roscosmos’ State Space Corporation has received the first funds for the implementation of the “Sphere” programme, which will allow Russia to receive the Internet from space. According to the head of the corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, this can be achieved in 2024.
As stated, this year, the corporation has already received the first funding for the deployment of the system. The programme implementation will make it possible to create two flight prototypes of the Skif (Internet) and Marathon (Internet of Things) spacecraft, and in 2024, to launch Express-RV communication satellites into space. According to the plan, by 2030 it is planned to concentrate about 600 satellites in various orbits.
Currently, cell towers and fibre-optic networks are used to distribute Internet communications in Russia. This does not allow Internet access to cover a significant territory of the country. To solve this problem, a new programme has been developed, which is based on the capabilities of space communications, remote sensing of the Earth and navigation. According to the developers, subscriber equipment should not be heavy, complex and expensive.
Ru-Main, 23.11.2021
Source: RBC
