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Russia’s new ‘Starlink‑Style’ Rassvet fleet loses its first satellite after weeks — Object 4 drops out of orbit but 15 others remain

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(Image credit: Bureau 1440 / IKS Holding) Object 4, one of 16 satellites in the first operational batch of Russia's Rassvet broadband network, re-entered Earth's atmosphere on approximately June 6th, according to orbital tracking compiled by space journalist Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb . The spacecraft launched on March 23rd from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and is reportedly the only member of the batch that wasn’t able to perform a single orbit-raising maneuver, instead decaying out of a roughly 288km x 324km insertion orbit while six of its companions slowly climb and eight hold altitude. Each Rassvet-3 satellite weighs about 370 kilos (816 pounds) and was released into a near-polar orbit inclined 82.3 degrees to the equator. For the first two weeks, none of the batch showed any propulsion activity, raising the prospect that the whole group had a problem. Object 16 (NORAD ID 68375) was the first to climb, on April 6th, with others following over the next several days.…

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