Aerobavovna founder creates tracker to monitor Russian Rassvet satellite constellation

The founder of the Ukrainian defence tech company Aerobavovna, Yuriy Vysoven, has presented a tool that tracks Russian Rassvet satellites and predicts windows of geometric visibility over Ukraine.

Vysoven wrote that the satellite constellation currently provides only short, periodic windows of geometric visibility instead of continuous coverage. His tracker predicts these windows by retrieving an up-to-date satellite catalogue from open-source data and calculating orbits 72 hours ahead.

Thus, the tool shows when and where the constellation is geometrically visible above the horizon over Ukraine. The data is updated every six hours. The interface features a heat layer on the map showing: how many satellites are visible simultaneously at each point, a forecast confidence indicator, visibility windows for each point, and so on.

However, the presence of a window does not mean that the communication channel is working. ‘Payload status, ground gateways, capacity and beam allocation are unknown to us,’ Vysoven clarifies.

The Russians call Rassvet a Starlink analogue. The constellation could be used to establish communications in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, control drones in the air, on land and at sea, and so on.

At the end of July, 12 of the 16 satellites launched in March 2026 had already reached a working orbit at an altitude of around 550 km. By the end of 2027, the Russians plan to deploy 292 satellites as part of an overall programme that involves launching 383 spacecraft, including spares.