Roscosmos Plans to Launch 130 Satellites for the 'Sphere' Internet Service

Information Satellite Systems Company 'Reshetnev,' a division of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has secured a state contract to manufacture more than 130 Marathon satellites, an essential component of the Sphere federal project.

These satellites will be part of the Marathon IoT global low-orbit multi-satellite data transmission system, according to Roscosmos.

The company's experts will initially create and produce five experimental Marathon spacecraft as outlined in a prior government contract with Roscosmos, with the aim of launching these experimental satellites by the end of 2023. These satellites will feature payloads enabling short message transmission, and their findings will contribute to the development of both experimental and production-ready spacecraft.

In December 2022, Roscosmos disclosed plans to employ the Marathon orbital constellation for aviation and mobile Internet services. The Marathon IoT orbital constellation, comprising 264 satellites, will provide global coverage, with a planned production rate of one satellite every two days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced the Sphere project in July 2018, which seeks to establish a worldwide satellite network to offer Internet and telephone communications for the Russian Federation and other nations.

The Sphere orbital constellation will encompass five satellite communications constellations - Yamal, Express-RV, Express, Skif, and Marathon - along with an equal number of Earth remote sensing constellations - Berkut-X, Berkut-O, Berkut-VD, Berkut-S, and Smotr.