Novyy Kosmos's Okulus radar satellite begins supplying data to Russian agencies
Novyy Kosmos · Roscosmos
Roscosmos says the privately built Okulus SAR satellite has begun supplying imagery to Russian federal agencies.
what happened
Roscosmos director general Dmitry Bakanov told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on September 22 that the radar satellite Okulus, launched earlier this year, has begun transmitting data to a number of Russian federal executive agencies, per vz.ru and Ruscable.ru. Okulus is a small X-band synthetic-aperture-radar satellite developed by private Russian aerospace company Novyy Kosmos, which states on its own site that the spacecraft is designed for 0.4-meter best resolution, a 400-kilometer swath and a sun-synchronous orbit at 475 kilometers, built with what the company calls 80% domestic components.
why it matters
Okulus has been promoted since its announcement as Russia's first privately developed commercial SAR satellite, but its first named data recipients are government agencies rather than open commercial customers, and Anatoly Zak flagged potential military implications in reporting the milestone. For EO operators and resellers tracking Russia's SAR ambitions, Okulus is an early signal of a nominally private entrant whose actual customer base, at least so far, looks state-directed rather than commercial.
for who
EO/SAR competitive-intelligence teams
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Novyy Kosmos, Roscosmos
- Category
- constellation
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-09-22
- Published
- 2026-09-23 05:34 UTC