Two Russian Rassvet satellites fall from orbit after failing to gain altitude, the latest setback for Moscow's Starlink alternative.

Two Russian Rassvet satellites fall from orbit after failing to gain altitude, the latest setback for Moscow's Starlink alternative.

Satellites #17 and #23 from the July batch are in rapid decay - #17 with only 245 km and descending at about 1.7 km per day, with reentry likely in weeks if the thrusters fail to fire.

One satellite from the earlier March batch had already burned up in June.

Built by Bureau 1440 as Russia's answer to Starlink after SpaceX cut off Russian military access in Ukraine, Rassvet launched 38 satellites across two groups.

Most of them usually go up towards ~500-540 km, but repeated propulsion failures in a subset slow progress.

Coverage remains limited to short daily windows rather than continuous service, with commercial targets pushed to 2027 at the earliest.