General Director of JSC "Gonets Satellite System" (part of Roscosmos State Corporation) Pavel Cherenkov presented the results of the company's work for 2023 and spoke about the prospects for development at the Demo Day of the Industrial Competence Center (ICC) "Satellite Communications", which was held on April 4, 2024 in Veliky Novgorod.
During the Demo Day, the heads of the relevant companies of the CIC told about the status of the implementation of particularly significant domestic projects, discussed issues of import substitution in the field of space telecommunications.
In his report, the head of the Gonets satellite system noted that currently more than 800 fishing vessels are equipped with the Gonets marine earth station, and since December last year, the Gonets software solution has been transmitting data from the electronic fishing log from fishing vessels to monitoring centers. The re-equipment of domestic logging equipment with the "Gonets-PAK Kedr" software and hardware complex, developed jointly with "Ilimsky LTUS" LLC, continues. Active work is underway on the advanced equipment of the Gonets satellite system, and a complex of testing works has been successfully completed.
Work continues within the framework of operator activities for the implementation of the federal project "Sphere": the principles of combining ground infrastructure and subscriber devices of satellite communication systems, as well as the concept of providing satellite communication services to consumers, are being developed. The first two spacecraft of the Marathon-IoT series, which will provide satellite mobile Internet services, are scheduled for launch by the end of this year.
One of the main achievements in recent years, P.G. Cherenkov noted the planned increase in the current orbital grouping of the Gonets satellite system due to a segment of small spacecraft. In March 2024, a corresponding strategic partnership agreement was signed between the Fifth Generation Design Bureau, the Gonets company and the Roscosmos State Corporation. The agreement provides for cooperation between the parties in the field of creating a multi-satellite constellation of small spacecraft with the involvement of private investments, which will allow the "Gonets" system to significantly increase the available number of satellite communication consumers and enter new markets.
The CIC Demo Day was attended by experts from industrial competence centers, representatives of satellite communication operators, software developers, equipment manufacturers, startups, scientific and industrial associations, as well as the Ministry of Finance of Russia, ANO Digital Economy, representatives of specialized educational institutions. The industrial competence centers were established in accordance with the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2022. The main task of industrial centers is to ensure the transition to domestic technical solutions in key sectors of the economy.
