Russian satellites to offer Internet access in Arctic by 2026

ST. PETERSBURG, March 31 (Xinhua) -- People in the North Pole will have access to the Internet in 2026 thanks to the Russian spacecraft Skif, TASS news agency reported on Friday.

Starting 2026, the Skif satellites of the Sphere project will provide Internet access in the Arctic, the press service of the Sphere Congress said.

According to the press service, there is practically no Internet at the North Pole. People can access the Internet using American satellite phones, but such access to the global network is slow and expensive.

In October 2022, Russia successfully launched a Skif-D satellite into orbit using the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle. In the future, eight Skif satellites are expected to go into orbit to form a multi-satellite orbital constellation.