Article Posted on : - Aug 11, 2010

Russia's new generation GLONASS - K satellite

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia will invest about 48 billion rubles in the Glonass space and land infrastructure in 2010-2011, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said.

“We plan to launch another six (Glonass) satellites before the end of this year, and no less than 24-28 satellites will permanently stay in orbit after that,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying on Tuesday.

Russia will begin testing the new generation Glonass-K satellites in December.

Glonass - the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System (GPS) is designed for both military and civilian use.

Russia currently has a total of 22 Glonass satellites in orbit, but only 16 of them are functional. The system requires 18 operational satellites for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of Russia and at least 24 satellites to provide navigation services worldwide.