MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS-DEFENSE/. Skif-D spacecraft, which is the first satellite of the Sfera program, has been delivered to Vostochny spaceport, Roscosmos said. It will be launched together with Gonets-M craft in October by Soyuz-2.1b rocket.
Sfera
President Vladimir Putin announced the Sfera program in June 2018. He said Russia planned to launch over 600 communication and remote earth sensing satellites in several years.
CEO of the Russian Space Systems (RKS) Company Andrey Tyulin told TASS the first six satellites are to be launched in three years. However, former Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said the Sfera had to be deployed in 2022.
The satellites are to be serially produced to decrease costs and increase quality. Tyulin said the program originated from Efir project of the RKS, which had to engage 288 spacecraft. A consortium of space rocket enterprises, telecom industry and investment funds had to be created to implement Efir program. Off-budget funds of 299 billion rubles had to be allocated within the Russian Digital Economy program.
Sfera is to engage small satellites in low orbits. They will provide mobile communications and optical survey of any point of the Earth in real time. Rogozin said President Putin supported Sfera as a separate goal-oriented federal program.
In June 2018, Sfera manager in the RKS Yuri Mishin said a discussion was underway to engage telecom operators in the project. The discussion focused on the business model from the point of view of the engagement model and technical interaction rather than commercial interests. "They should not fear investments into the project. They are staged ones as the creation of the system will take seven years," he said.
Then first deputy CEO of Roscosmos Nikolai Sevastyanov said in June 2018 that small Sfera satellites will be orbited in cluster launches by heavy Angara-A5 rockets. At least 25 rockets will be necessary. A launch pad for the rocket has been built in Plesetsk spaceport and the construction began in Vostochny spaceport in 2018.
CEO of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (ISS) Company Nikolai Testoedov told TASS the ISS was ready to join Sfera and create new satellites, if invited. The company was producing over 50 big satellites at the time. "It is no problem to launch batch production of one-type spacecraft," he said.
Testoedov believes a satellite would weigh 300-700 kg. "In case of additional functions, it will weigh more," he said.
In July 2018, Rogozin said Putin had approved the Sfera project and confirmed that the first satellites would be launched as scheduled. "Sfera deployment time is in 2022," Rogozin said. In August 2018, he called to engage private investors in the project. "It is either a government goal-oriented program or a certain system with a legal base to provide easy terms and benefits to attract private companies. It is important to implement it not at the expense of budget funds," he said.
In April 2020, Director of prospective programs and the Sfera project of Roscosmos Sergey Prokhorov told TASS the concept of the Sfera had been determined. It will engage Yamal and Express geostationary communication satellites, Express-RV high-elliptical craft for communications and broadband Internet access in the whole of Russia, including the Arctic, a multi-satellite group of small spacecraft for the global Internet of Things, and a medium-orbit group for collective Internet broadband access.
The Sfera will also include remote earth survey small satellites with radars and infrared sensors to monitor emergencies. "The final concept of the small craft has not been determined yet," Prokhorov said.
In July 2022, the Russian government gave the final go-ahead to the Sfera project and appropriated 95 billion of budget money.
Sfera implementation
In October 2018, Deputy CEO of the RTI Company Yevgeny Matveev told TASS that the Yaroslavl Radio Plant (YaRZ) was dealing with technological solutions of the Sfera program. "YaRZ has launched a workshop to assemble payload modules for the Sfera program. At present, the R&D is ongoing and technological solutions are tested," he said.
In November 2018, Roscosmos First Deputy CEO Yuri Urlinich said the Russian navigational system GLONASS would join the Sfera program in 2021. "The combination of the systems will produce a synergy and help us better cope with the tasks," he said.
In April 2019, Director of the sales department of the Space Communications Company Mikhail Glinka said the design of new Express-RV satellites had been completed. They will be a part of the Sfera project.
In August 2019, Urlinich said the Sfera project had been agreed with the Military-Industrial Commission.
In September 2019, then Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said the government had envisaged over 10 billion rubles in 2020-2022 budget for the Sfera program. "Do not forget that major off-budget finances are envisaged for it," he said.
In April 2020, Roscosmos Executive Director for science Alexander Bloshenko told TASS the Vampire experiment would be held in the Science module of the International Space Station (ISS). It will grow crystals for the latest infrared sensors of Sfera satellites. "The experiment will create uncooled matrixes with unique technical characteristics for infrared sensors," he said.
Urlinich disclosed some details of the Sfera project at Satellite Russia & CIS conference in 2020. The project has to create a global field to control drones and robots. Over 500 satellites will be serially produced. The design of high-speed laser communications with the Earth and between satellites is to be ready in 2024. Sfera will include global data transmission system Marathon IoT/M2M, which would receive small and super small communication and survey spacecraft in 2024. The experimental prototype of a radar Earth survey satellite in the X (S) band is to be created by 2026. The Marathon will search for people also in the mountains.
In August 2020, Prokhorov said light portable devices were created for the project. They can fit into clothes or pendent and promote search missions on the global scope. Prokhorov called them a life button.
In April 2021, Bloshenko told TASS the main participants began to implement the Sfera project. They design satellites for new communication orbital groupings that provide Marathon Internet of Things and Skif broadband access.
In July 2021, First Deputy CEO of Rostec Vadim Kalyugin told TASS the remote earth sensing satellites of the Sfera project will operate upgraded optical-electronic Aurora equipment. It covers a strip of 44 km of the earth space and has a 1.5-meter resolution.
In February 2022, Rogozin said the production of four Express-RV communication satellites for Sfera would begin in 2022.
In April 2022, Bloshenko said it would take Roscomos a year to complete the analysis of proposals to create the Berkut group of satellites. Berkut has to become a part of Sfera and will include satellites for highly detailed remote earth sensing and radar satellites. Urlinich said both the satellites and communication equipment were being designed.
In May 2022, Prokhorov said the access to Marathon satellite Internet of the Sfera program would cost 1500 rubles. He specified that the current Sfera configuration envisages the launch of 137 satellites, including five experimental ones, for the Marathon Internet of Things, six Skif satellites for broadband Internet access, four Express-RV communication satellites and earth sensing spacecraft. They include Berkut-O (panoramic survey), Berkut-VD (highly detailed survey), and Berkut-Kh (radar survey) satellites.
In August 2022, the Information Satellite Systems said it had launched the creation of Express-RV broadband Internet access satellites for the Sfera program.
In the same month, CEO of the Center for the operation of ground space infrastructure Ruslan Mukhamedzhanov told TASS the Soyuz-2.1b rocket, which is to orbit Gonets-M and Skif satellites, will be powered by new fuel - naphthyl.
In early October, ISS CEO Yevgeny Nesterov said Marathon-IoT satellites would be renewed every five years, while Skif every 12 years.
A space industry source told TASS the first launch of three Gonets satellites from Vostochny spaceport may take place on October 22. The exact time will depend on the readiness of the first Skif-D satellite.