Ukraine's OBRIA NANO Satellite Tests a Backup to Starlink

Ukrainian firm HIMERA and Danish manufacturer GomSpace announced on Tuesday, October 27, that their OBRIA NANO satellite is operational in orbit. It is the first test platform for a future communication network controlled by Ukraine.

The satellite launched on October 1 on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission, which carried payloads for dozens of customers who shared the costs. According to the two companies, it is already testing the technologies that will guide the design of the planned constellation. HIMERA has made jam-resistant military radios since 2022. GomSpace, founded in 2007 and based in Aalborg, says it has customers in more than 60 countries.

A dependence exposed

The announcement came three days after Starlink's restrictions were lifted. On October 14, the Ukrainian army found without warning that Starshield was throttled. On October 19, Volodymyr Zelensky said terminals stopped working between 130 and 161 km/h depending on the sector. Interceptors chasing Russian jet-powered drones need to fly much faster.

Elon Musk first said the limits were set by the US military and ultimately the US president. Washington pointed back at him, and on October 24 he accused Kyiv of breaching Starlink's terms with offensive drone strikes, which Ukraine denies. The same day, Ukraine's defense ministry reported a return to normal, with stable connections above 400 km/h. Musk also wrote that the front line would collapse immediately if Starlink were cut.

Ukraine also relies on foreign satellites for observation. In mid-October, Russia's military satellite Kosmos 2612 was spotted near ICEYE-X36, a commercial radar satellite whose imagery Ukraine uses. It moved away after a few days.

Many unknowns

The project is at an early stage. The companies say they want to build satellites and ground terminals in Ukraine, without saying who would launch them. According to SpaceNews, they have disclosed nothing on OBRIA's specifications, capacity, financing or satellite count. By comparison, Starlink has about 10,000 satellites. The aim is regional coverage rather than global, and the network is meant to complement European systems.

No deployment date has been given. Until then, Ukrainian drones will keep relying on Starlink and Starshield, which are used for civilian communications and drone guidance and targeting, but not for strikes on Russian territory.