The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, on June 27 published a video of the launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome of the Soyuz 2.1 B rocket carrier with the Akhmat-1 satellite on board. He noted that this is the first Chechen satellite that entered the Earth's orbit. As Vitaly Yegorov, a popularizer of astronautics and author of the Zelenyikot blog, told The Insider, the satellite was partially assembled from parts from AliExpress, and the important intellectual work on its assembly was not carried out in Chechnya. The expert also noted that, in general, the first Chechen satellite “was paid for by non-Chechens, was developed by non-Chechens, and was also launched by non-Chechens,” but he praised the students for their first job.
“The electronic component base of this satellite is most likely from AliExpress, but in this case it is not critical. Half of all the world's low-education satellites come from there. More importantly, how to collect all these components and connect them into one working system. Serious intellectual work is required here, but it was also not carried out in Chechnya, since the platform for this spacecraft was developed at Kursk University – there is a very strong student laboratory for small spacecraft. And they already produce their own satellite platforms and provide them for use by other educational institutions both abroad and in Russia. At least they worked abroad until 2022.
The data receiver that is used there is also standard. I am almost sure that it was not developed in Chechnya and, most likely, it is also purchased. In this case, I don't know who they got it from. This is a civil aircraft signal receiver, that is, any Flightradar user uses the same data that this satellite will receive. The only difference is that Flightradar receives signals mainly from ground stations, and the satellite will be able to pick up these signals from space. There are also many such satellites, and this is a completely civilian application of signals. The satellite will also be able to receive this data, only from civilian aircraft. The whole program of the Chechen University was paid for by the Russian federal program Space-π, according to which 16 spacecraft flew into space.
In general, we can say that the first Chechen satellite was paid for by non-Chechens, was developed by non-Chechens, and was also launched by non-Chechens . Still, some work has been done with the satellite, and the next satellite will be developed at the Chechen State University. This is due to programming, establishing the transmission and reception of data, although they do not yet have a receiving station.
This is the first step in astronautics and the development of space vehicles, in the development of some subsystems of space vehicles and their own space programs. In this case, this is not an empty PR, but a normal development for a student department, if the university is just starting its first steps in space activities. This is a logical step and many universities in Russia and abroad start from this. We can only congratulate the students of the university on the fact that their brainchild has reached orbit and, hopefully, will work successfully there and send signals from space, as planned.”
Kadyrov noted in his publication that this is the first Chechen satellite that entered the Earth's orbit, and that it was completely developed by specialists from the Chechen State University named after the Hero of Russia Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov together with experts from the South-Western State University as part of the "Planet Duty Officer" program .
This is not the first time that government structures or officials pass off Chinese technology as their latest developments. The Avtomatika Concern JSC, which was previously part of the Rostec state corporation, issued Chinese equipment for its development of antenna systems for satellite communications in cars, trains, ships and helicopters. On this, the concern earned 300 million rubles allocated as a subsidy, Kommersant reported. Also in 2022, a robot dog with an anti-tank grenade launcher attached to the top was shown at the Army-2022 weapons exhibition. Despite the fact that the robot was completely wrapped in a black case, it was easily recognized as a Chinese robops for the home. In fact, he does not know how to shoot and can only walk down the street in sunny weather, holds a charge for no more than two hours, and is easy to hack. Also, the media and experts have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that many "Russian" UAVs are assembled from parts from AliExpress.