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Russia Launches Three GLONASS Satellites |
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BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, Dec.26, 2006/Satnews Daily/ ― Russia has expanded its global navigation satellite system (Glonass) after successfully launching three satellites.
A spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) confirmed the successful launch on Tuesday.
Liftoff was on December 25th, 2006 at 23 hours 18 minutes Moscow Time. A Proton-K Launch Vehicle (LV) with Upper Stage (US) DM carrying three Glonass-M satellites was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Glonass is the Russian version of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and is designed for both military and civilian purposes, and allows users to identify their positions in real time.
According to RIA Novosti, the Glonass system currently has 13 satellites in orbit. The satellites currently in use are of two modifications - Glonass and its updated version Glonass-M. Glonass-M has a longer service life of seven years and is equipped with updated antenna feeder systems and an additional navigation frequency for civilian users.
On December 2005, President Vladimir Putin ordered that the system should be ready by 2008. In March 2006, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov promised that Glonass will be available to domestic consumers for military as well for civilian purposes by the end of 2007.
Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov said earlier Russia is in talks with the United States and the European Space Agency to prepare agreements on the use of Glonass jointly with GPS and Galileo satellite navigation systems. Reports from Moscow say Russia plans to have 18 satellites in orbit by late 2007 or early 2008, and a full orbital group of 24 satellites by the end of 2009.
RSC Energia, manufacturer of the rocket’s upper stage DM, said it took Proton-K LV 10 minutes to deliver US DM together with SC to a low earth orbit with a perigee altitude of 158.9 km and apogee altitude of 164.1 km.
Upper Stage DM transferred Glonass-M satellites from low earth orbit to a working low earth orbit of 19130 km by altitude over the period of 3 hours 22 minutes.
Following two successive firings of US DM main engine, the satellites were separated from the block and changed over to autonomous flight on December 26th, 2006 at 02 hours 50 minutes. US processing at the cosmodrome and its launch support as part of Integrated Launch Vehicle were carried out under the technical direction of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia.
Russia Adds Three More Satellites to GLONASS, Civilians Assured of Greater Access to Navigation Data |
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