Russia moves launch of first Express-RV satellite from 2025 to 2026

MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - The launch of the first Express-RV communication satellite from the Sfera federal project has been postponed until 2026, Space Communications General Director Alexei Volin said.

"It is planned to launch the first Express-RV satellites in 2026," Volin said at the Satcomrus 2024 conference on Thursday.

Eight satellites are expected to launched between late 2026 and 2030, including Express-AMU4, Express-AMU51, Express-AMU52, Express-AMU6, Express-40 and Express-AT3 before 2029 and Express-AT4 and Express-AMU8 before 2030, he said.

On December 7, 2022, Roscosmos said that the first Express-RV communication satellite would be launched in October 2025

On July 13, Roscosmos Deputy General Director for Space Systems and Science Alexander Bloshenko told Interfax that the corporation was planning to launch three Express-RV communication and broadcast satellites into highly elliptical orbits in 2026, following the deployment of the first satellite of the series.

In July 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the Sfera project, which aims to create a global satellite network for the provision of Internet and telephone service in Russia and other countries.

The Sfera orbital constellation will consist of five groups of communication satellites, namely Yamal, Express-RV, Express, Skif and Marafon, and five groups of remote-sensing satellites, Berkut-Kh, Berkut-O, Berkut-VD, Berkut-S and Smotr.