Russia Is Building a “Digital Dome” to Connect Space, Air, and Ground Transport
A large-scale project aims to merge satellites, drones, and terrestrial infrastructure into a single real-time operating environment for transportation, logistics, and data services.
Russia has launched an ambitious program to create what developers call a “digital dome of the planet”—a unified operational environment designed to connect satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground-based infrastructure into a single network. The project is being developed by the Moscow Aviation Institute in partnership with industrial companies.
A Seamless Operating Environment
The initiative, officially titled Seamless Operating Environment, is designed to allow devices ranging from satellites to drones to exchange data in real time without friction. According to Naked Science, the backbone of the system will be space-based platforms that provide global coverage for communications, navigation, and remote sensing.
A Modular Satellite Platform
Rather than starting from scratch, the project builds on and upgrades existing infrastructure. At its core will be a universal satellite platform developed jointly by the university and Reshetnev. The platform is designed to be modular: its payload can be reconfigured quickly for different tasks, much like swapping components in a construction set.
According to Sergey Firsyuk, chief designer of the university’s Center for Space Technologies, the cost of producing six such satellites will be comparable to that of building a single conventional spacecraft. At the same time, overall system performance is expected to increase dramatically. A larger satellite constellation enables more frequent passes over specific locations, resulting in more accurate and up-to-date data.
Alongside the space hardware, developers are creating a centralized digital service—a kind of “single window” for users. End customers, such as farmers or logistics companies, will not need to deal with technical complexities. Instead, they will be able to submit a request and receive ready-to-use data or services, such as satellite-based analysis of crop conditions.
Full deployment of the digital dome is planned for 2030–2033, though the first components of the system are expected to become operational much earlier.
