Two Russian Gonets – Messenger – communications satellites have made successful test transmissions between Australia to Russia. These two satellites have been operational since October 1992. The first tests confirmed that reliable communication is possible using very small aperture terminals and mini-antennas. Six more satellites of the same type will be launched by the Smolsat association this year. The commercial full-scale operation of the system with 36 satellites will be started in 1995. It is expected that the at the first stage the Gonets system will carry data rather than voice traffic. NPO Prikladnoj Mekhaniki – the Applied Mechanics Research and Production Industrial Amalgamation – in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Soyuzmedinform, a medical information centre, and NPO Tochnykh Priborov – the Precision Instruments Research and Industrial Amalgamation – in Moscow are members of the Smolsat Association. The project is supported by Rosselkhozbank, an agriculture commercial bank, representing about 300,000 farmers who will be future users of Gonets-based communication services.
