In a Telegram post on July 20, the company said the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle and established contact with the flight-control center. It did not disclose how many satellites were launched. After final checks and activation of onboard systems, the company said the satellites will move to their target orbits.
Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi previously reported that Rassvet has moved from testing toward deployment of an operational orbital constellation.
Bureau 1440 launched the first three experimental Rassvet-1 satellites in June 2023. In May 2024, it said it placed three more Rassvet-2 satellites into orbit to test key technologies for future serial spacecraft and that it had successfully tested an intersatellite laser link with speeds up to 10 Gbps. In March 2026, the company launched the first 16 serial-production satellites.
Defense Express reported that Bureau 1440 says the system could begin operating after the first phase of 288 satellites is deployed. The company has said it aims for global coverage and hopes to move to commercial operation in 2027. Bureau 1440 plans to increase the constellation to 730 satellites by 2030 and to 900 by 2035.
By comparison, SpaceX has launched more than 11,500 Starlink
satellites since February 2018, with more than 10,000 currently functioning.