Russia ready for September launch of Gonets telecoms satellites from Plesetsk spaceport

Russia plans to launch Gonets telecoms satellites atop a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket in September from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia. Gonets’ CEO indicated that previous satellite launches utilised legacy Rokot rockets from the intercontinental ballistic missile conversion program. Russia’s 28 low-orbit satellite communications system is called Gonets and it’s designed for global information exchange with mobile and stationary facilities and allows transmission of Glonass coordinate data to remote monitoring centres. The Gonets will provide communications in remote regions including the Arctic and facilitate the Internet of Things.