Article Posted on : - Mar 02, 2010

An artistic impression of Glonass satellite

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia successfully orbited three Glonass navigation satellites using Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, a media report said.

�Stable telemetric communication was established with the satellites, which were orbited at 3:51 Moscow time (0:51 GMT)," RIA Novosti quoted Alexei Zolotukhin as saying.

GLONASS � Global Navigation Satellite System � is an alternative and complementary system to the US� Global Positioning System, China�s Compass navigation system, and the planned Galileo positioning system of the European Union.

Designed for both military and civilian purposes, GLONASS enables its users to determine their positions within a few meters.

The system requires 18 satellites for continuous navigation services covering the entire Russian Federation, and 24 satellites to provide services worldwide.