First Sfera satellite to continue test flight until end of November 2023

MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - The Skif-D demonstration satellite of the Sfera federal project will continue its test flight until the end of November 2023, Roscosmos said.

"The test flight of the satellite will continue until the end of November 2023," it said.

"Results of measurement of Skif-D irradiation are being prepared for dispatch to the International Telecommunication Union to secure the orbital frequency resource," Roscosmos said.

A Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle coupled with the Skif-D, the first satellite of the Sfera satellite constellation, and three Gonets-M communication satellites, took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on October 22, 2022. The Fregat upper stage inserted the satellites into their target orbits on October 23.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the Sfera project, which envisages the creation of a global satellite network to provide Internet and telephone service to Russia and other countries, in July 2018.

The Skif-D demonstration satellite is geared toward testing new engineering solutions for broadband Internet access.

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