MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Gonets Satellite System company (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) will create a personal satellite communications and data transmission system focused on low and medium speeds, the company CEO Andrey Manoilo said at the 18th International Conference SatelliteS (Satellites 2026).
"We are launching a new promising project in the very near future. This is the multifunctional system for personal satellite communications and data transmission (MSPSCDT), the primary focus of which will be voice satellite communications and low and medium speed data transmission. This work will begin in just a few days. And it will be arranged in a totally different manner," the Gonets Satellite Systems CEO said.
The MSPSCDT constellation will be launched into orbit at an altitude of about 750 km with a larger number of satellites and global communications coverage. "All the services of the Gonets 2.0 system must definitely be there. <...> The final number of spacecraft will be determined based on the preliminary design, which will be completed quickly. But we expect it to be around 180 spacecraft," Manoilo noted.
According to him, the new system could meet the need for short message transmission and global coverage across the entire territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, the system could be used by foreign partners. Gonets would like to use this constellation to partially replace the Skif and Marathon constellations, which were not included in the Cosmos national project, Manoilo added.