Russia hides launch timeline as Ukraine targets key spaceport
▼ Summary
– Russia reports multiple drone attacks on the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in recent months, none of which succeeded.
– Russia is ramping up activity at Plesetsk to deploy Rassvet, a satellite network similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.
– Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov told Putin about “serious inbound attempts” on March 23, the day the first Rassvet satellites launched.
– The first 16 operational Rassvet satellites launched from Plesetsk on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket, backed by over $1.2 billion from the Russian government.
– Local authorities warned of a drone threat near Plesetsk from March 22–25 and temporarily restricted mobile Internet in Mirny for security.
If official Russian statements are to be believed, the nation’s northern spaceport has faced repeated drone incursions over recent months. While none of the unmanned aircraft successfully struck the facility, these attempted attacks coincide with a major uptick in activity at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, as Moscow races to build a satellite constellation that mirrors SpaceX’s Starlink. This space-based network is critical to Ukraine’s military communications, making it a high-value target.
The first public acknowledgment of a drone threat at Plesetsk emerged weeks ago, when the head of Roscosmos, Russia’s state space corporation, sat down with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Dmitry Bakanov, the agency’s general director, presented Putin with a rundown of recent space achievements, a relatively sparse list for an established power. Russia managed just 17 launches in 2025, placing it a distant third behind the United States and China.
Bakanov then turned to what he called “perhaps the most exciting event” for Russia’s space program in the past year: the March 23 launch of the first operational satellites for Rassvet, Russia’s homegrown answer to Starlink. Developed by Bureau 1440, a company backed by over $1.2 billion in state funding, the network’s initial 16 satellites lifted off from Plesetsk aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket.
“Our ‘friends’ did everything they could to prevent this launch from taking place,” Bakanov claimed during the April 11 meeting. “We had serious inbound attempts to the cosmodrome that day, but nevertheless, the joint combat crews of Roscosmos and the Space Forces accomplished their mission.”
Local officials in Mirny, the town nearest to Plesetsk, issued a “drone threat” warning for the region between March 22 and 25 via an official social media account. Residents responded by reporting that mobile Internet service in the town had been cut. City authorities explained that the temporary restrictions were “necessitated by security measures aimed at protecting citizens and critical infrastructure.”
(Source: Ars Technica)