The "Marathon IoT" and "Skif" satellite systems, which are part of the "Sphere" federal space project, may be closed. They were supposed to provide the Internet of Things and high-speed access to the World Wide Web from space, but the updated Roscosmos team may put an end to their development. The issue of closing the projects was raised 2 weeks ago at the Satellite Russia 2025 conference. The fate of the satellite systems will become clearer after the approval of the new national space exploration project on May 1, 2025.
Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Government and Roscosmos to prepare a plan for the development of space activities until 2030 and for the future until 2036 by May 1, 2025. The decision was made following a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development, which took place on December 5, 2024.
In February 2025, Dmitry Bakanov from the Ministry of Transport became the new head of Roscosmos. According to information from unofficial sources, priorities have changed with his arrival.
The "Marathon IoT" and "Skif" projects have already begun to be implemented: in 2023, Roscosmos concluded agreements with the company "Information Satellite Systems" named after M. F. Reshetnev on the creation of spacecraft. However, money was found only for half of what was planned: 132 "Marathon IoT" satellites instead of 264 and 6 "Skif" satellites instead of 12.
Now the future of these projects depends on the new Roscosmos plan, and market experts recommend not drawing hasty conclusions until May.
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