/sci/ - Science & Math

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/27/10/2023/653bab0b9a7947b643fb1909

In Russia, the model of the Russian satellite industry needs to be radically changed; now it is uncompetitive, said the head of Roscosmos

“In the USA, production capacity allows us to create about 3 thousand devices per year. Six production facilities have been created in China, which today are able to produce about 1200–1500 devices per year. And we are only 40. Just compare. Uncompetitive. We are faced with the enormous task of turning the situation around,” Borisov said.

According to him, the global space constellation has over 8.9 thousand satellites, and it has grown approximately tenfold over the past ten years. The Russian orbital constellation has about 220 satellites, that is, about 2.5%, Borisov added.

At the same time, the industry itself has changed: from launching heavy, expensive satellites, it has moved on to creating multi-satellite constellations, where the reliability of service delivery depends not on an individual device, but on the constellation itself, explained the head of Roscosmos. He noted that the Starlink company, for example, makes cheaper satellites and quickly replenishes the constellation when one of the devices fails. Its group is approaching 4 thousand.

“We were not ready for this. Today, all satellite manufacturing companies in the industry are able to produce about 40 satellites per year,” says Borisov. According to him, the assembly of one device takes about 18 months on the territory of the enterprise; under such conditions it is impossible to create multi-satellite constellations, so it is necessary to change the model and move to conveyor production.

The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to ensure the mass launch of satellites and “radically reduce” the cost of delivering spacecraft into orbit. The head of state demanded to establish serial production of spacecraft and move to assembly line assembly.