All 16 Russian Starlink-rival satellites fail to reach intended orbits
All 16 satellites in Russia's latest launch for its Starlink rival reportedly failed to reach their intended orbital altitude, with some already descending toward Earth. The reports provide a substantially clearer and more severe account of the launch failure than previously available.
By DoomRadar · Published on DoomRadar .
Why it matters
The failure undermines Russia's planned satellite communications capability and may require recovery or replacement efforts, while descending spacecraft create an additional space-debris concern.
Related source links
These links were collected with this event. Recorded source dates may reflect when a link was found. Article publication dates are shown only when available from the source. Open the originals for their full context.
- Kremlin Fails to Get Data-Link Satellites to Low Earth Orbit ↗kyivpost.com · Recorded source date: Sep 1, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC
- Russian stuff blowing up: Russia's new Starlink-alternative satellite system fails ↗dailykos.com · Recorded source date: Sep 1, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC
- Russia's Starlink copycat has failed so far, but still threatens Ukraine ↗euronews.com · Recorded source date: Sep 1, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC
- Russia's answer to Starlink satellites seen falling towards earth (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,650) – EUobserver ↗euobserver.com · Recorded source date: Sep 1, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC
- Russia's Race to Replace Starlink Is Failing ↗newsweek.com · Recorded source date: Sep 1, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC
- All 16 of Russia's latest satellites for its Starlink rival failed to reach their intended orbit ↗yahoo.com · Article published: Sep 2, 2026, 6:08 AM UTC
- All 16 New Russian Starlink-Rival Satellites Short of Target Orbit ↗businessinsider.com · Recorded source date: Sep 2, 2026, 7:01 AM UTC
- Russian Starlink rival flounders after entire batch of satellites fails to reach operational altitude — many of the 16 launched hit less than half their 870km target, and two are already falling back to Earth ↗tomshardware.com · Recorded source date: Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
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