Russia's satellite constellation nears 400 units - Roscosmos CEO

MOSCOW. Sept 22 (Interfax) - Russia launched about 60 satellites in 2026, thus increasing its constellation to almost 400 units, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Bakanov said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday.

"About 60 satellites have been put into orbit this year. These are telecom, navigation and remote sensing satellites. The entire constellation nears 400 satellites," Bakanov said.

Bakanov highlighted two projects, namely the Elektro-L satellite updating weather data every 15 minutes and the Obzor radar satellite providing high-resolution images of the Earth irrespective of weather conditions.

"It is crucial that we draw the private sector into our space programs and the Space national project in order to achieve these objectives," he said.

"Two private optic-electronic surveillance satellites have passed every test," Bakanov said.

"Both were sent to the Vostochny Cosmodrome for the launch due in October," he said.

"Both are high-resolution and will expand the satellite constellation capable of imaging the Earth surface any time of the day," Bakanov said.