Russia to deploy Marathon communications satellite cluster within 3 years

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The effort to deploy a constellation of 264 Marathon IoT communications satellites will take three years, Deputy CEO of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company Alexander Kuzovnikov said on Monday. "Currently, we have about 2,000 square meters of vacant premises, clean zones that can be equipped to organize the assembly, integration and testing of these space vehicles … in order to deploy and orbit 264 satellites over three years," the deputy chief executive said at the roundtable discussion, Place of Satellite Technologies on the Market of the Internet of Things. The Reshetnev Company is currently working on the constellation’s preliminary design. Next year, the Company plans to develop the project’s conceptual design, according to the presentation made by Kuzovnikov at the roundtable discussion. The presentation also notes that the manufacture and the launch of six demonstrator satellites is planned in the second quarter of 2023. Roscosmos First Deputy Head for Orbital Group Development and Long-Term Projects Yuri Urlichich earlier said in a presentation that the prototypes of Marathon communications satellites would be developed within four years by 2024. The Marathon IoT/M2M global data transmission system will make part of Russia’s Sfera cluster of next-generation satellites. Roscosmos Executive Director for Science and Long-Term Programs Alexander Bloshenko earlier said that the Marathon satellite constellation would provide services to search for people, including in mountains. The data will be directly transmitted to the Emergencies Ministry or search services. Read more