Russia's Starlink rival stalls as Rassvet satellites fail to reach orbit

Russia's Rassvet, a Starlink-like internet constellation by Bureau-1440, has struggled to enter orbit, with 32 satellites launched since March mostly failing to reach the planned 800 km orbit. The first batch showed partial success (13 of 16 at ~511 km) but others failed or remained at lower altitudes; the second batch all failed to climb to the target orbit, signaling a lengthy path before the system could support military or civilian communications—likely not ready in time for the current war.