Geoscan Group is developing a constellation of small spacecraft (SSC) for Earth remote sensing (ERS), capable of panchromatic imaging with a resolution of 0.9 meters per pixel and multispectral imaging with a resolution of 3.1 meters. By 2027, the company plans to launch satellites that can cover up to 1.2 million square kilometers of land daily. This was announced at the CIPR-2025 conference in Nizhny Novgorod.
The first step towards creating the constellation is the launch of the «InnoSat16» satellite in the 16U format in the summer of 2025. This CubeSat will be the first Russian spacecraft of this size in space. Equipped with a panchromatic camera with a resolution of 2.5 meters at an altitude of 500 km, it will test Geoscan's technologies for future SSCs. In 2025–2026, six more satellites will be launched into orbit, which will form the basis of the constellation.
The technological basis of the project is the «Geoscan 16U» platform, developed jointly with the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The platform is equipped with a high-precision orientation system with an accuracy of 0.006 °/s, including a star tracker, a fiber optic gyroscope, a GNSS receiver, magnetometers, and solar sensors. For data transmission, an X-band transmitter with a speed of 250 Mbit/s is used, and for control, a VHF transceiver with a speed of up to 57.6 kbit/s. Power is supplied by a 230 W*h battery and solar panels with gallium arsenide photovoltaic converters, which are resistant to radiation. Cameras for the satellites are being developed by JSC «NPO «Lepton». The platform is a completely Russian development. All systems, except for the star tracker and fiber optic gyroscope, were created at Geoscan.
Our own ERS constellation is a logical development of Geoscan's technologies. By combining our expertise in unmanned aerial systems and the space sector, we will be able to create the best solution for continuous acquisition of high-quality data about the Earth.
Geoscan already has experience in creating 3U format satellites, such as «Geoscan-Edelweiss» and «239Alferov», implemented as part of the «Cosmos-π» program. The 16U platform is focused on commercial and scientific applications, offering high shooting resolution. Similar projects are being implemented by the companies «Sputnics» and «Roscosmos».
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