Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, says that two of the three satellites of the Tundra system, designed by Russia to track ballistic missile launches, have failed, according to the Moscow Times. The constellation of satellites, which Russia has been building since 2015 to replace the Oko system that has been operational since the early 1990s, has almost simultaneously lost two satellites: Kosmos 2541, launched in September 2019, and Kosmos 2563, launched in November 2022.
Researcher Pavel Podvig claims that the first satellite completed its last orbital correction maneuver in March, and the second one in July. The only satellite in the system that does not show clear signs of malfunction is Kosmos 2552. It was scheduled to perform an orbital correction maneuver in November 2025, but this has not yet been detected. However, it is too early to talk about its malfunction, writes Podvig.
Space expert Anatoli Zak notes that Russia seems to be failing in its attempt to rebuild the early warning missile system based on satellites, first developed in the Soviet era. The most likely reasons are sanctions and financial problems of the space industry, which is not capable of building new satellites, writes Zak.
Russia conducted only 17 space launches in 2024
Last year, Russia conducted only 17 space launches, the smallest number since the early 1960s. Compared to 2023, the number of launches decreased by two, compared to 2022 by four, and almost by half compared to 2013.
Russia has fallen from first place in launches to third, after the United States and China. And by the end of 2025, New Zealand will have caught up with Russia for the first time, with 17 launches, according to space enthusiast Vitali Egorov. Russia is five times behind China, which conducted 90 launches, and more than ten times behind the United States.
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