The Russian orbital constellation includes more than 160 spacecraft serving thousands of people every day. Colonel Roman Vinokurov, Chief of Staff of the Titov Main Testing Space Center, said this in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.
“The orbital constellation of spacecraft in Russia today includes more than 160 spacecraft, of which about 70 percent are under the control of our center,” he said.
He explained that the constellation consists of spacecraft for communication, navigation, topogeodetic and meteorological purposes, remote sensing of the Earth and monitoring of the state on its surface. According to him, more than a thousand military and civilian personnel ensure the smooth operation of the system every day. “[Daily] over 1,500 orbital constellation control sessions are being conducted,” Vinokurov added.
Earlier that day, the Ministry of Defense announced four launches of Soyuz-2 missiles with military satellites, as well as one launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile during this year. According to the ministry, a total of 15 space launches were made from the Plesetsk, Vostochny and Baikonur cosmodromes, with 258 domestic and foreign spacecraft launched into orbit. At the same time, the duty forces of the ground control complex conducted over 520 thousand sessions of control of the spacecraft of the Russian orbital group.
In late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the missed deadlines in the space industry. Then he drew attention to the fact that a set of measures to achieve Russia's long-term goals in the space sphere should have been approved by the end of August, but in reality this has not yet been done. This, according to the president, “jeopardizes our plans for the development of the industry as a whole.” In response, the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that the project to create a super-heavy rocket and space complex and a multi-satellite orbital group Sphere was submitted to the government on time, and stressed that he hoped: after a meeting with the president, the government would agree on the amount of funding for the programs.
