Two Russian Rassvet satellites are falling out of orbit after failing to raise altitude, the latest setback for Moscow’s Starlink alternative.

Satellites No. 17 and No. 23 from the July batch are in rapid decay — No. 17 at just ~245 km and dropping ~1.7 km/day, with reentry likely in weeks if thrusters can’t fire.

One satellite from the earlier March batch already burned up in June.

Rassvet, built by Bureau 1440 as Russia’s answer to Starlink after SpaceX cut off Russian military access in Ukraine, has launched 38 satellites across two batches.

Most are ascending normally toward ~500–540 km, but repeated propulsion failures on a subset are slowing progress.

Coverage remains limited to brief daily windows rather than continuous service, with commercial targets pushed to 2027 at the earliest.