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Putin: Glonass Should be Better Than GPS to Compete Commercially |
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MOSCOW, Russia, March 13, 2007/Satnews Daily/ ― Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country’s Glonass satellite navigation system has to be better than the U.S.’ GPS system for it to be a viable commercial enterprise. He believes Glonass “was bound to prove competitive if it performed well.”
“In order for users to choose Glonass, the system should operate flawlessly, better than GPS, cheaper and with a better quality,” he said at a recent meeting with government leaders.
He added that he was watching Glonass’ progress, and that the government would pay “much attention to the creation of the Glonass system”. Putin wants Glonass deployed nationwide by the end of 2007 and ensuring its effective use by government and consumers.
He was counting on Russian patriotism to fuel demand for Glonass, especially from government institutions, but urged Glonass had to become a quality service. Russia is in the final stages of a project to boost Glonass use among government and consumers. Russia’s first deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov said it was more important to secure Glonass’ integration with programs and plans of speedy economic and innovation development.
Glonass currently has 10 operational satellites and three new spacecraft that are in their final in-orbit checkout phase. Two Proton rockets, each carrying three Glonass spacecraft, are scheduled to launch this year. After taking into account satellites expected to be retired, the Glonass constellation should total 16-18 fully operational satellites by January 2008.
The Russian government has ordered the nation’s space agency, Roskosmos, to accelerate Glonass’ replenishment so that at least 18 satellites are operational by late 2008. That is the number needed to provide continuous coverage over Russia. The same plan expects a full constellation of 24 operational satellites by late 2009. The Russian government, through different presidential decrees and other regulatory pronouncements, wants to position Glonass as a dual-use system with a real commercial impact. As part of this effort, Russia has rescinded regulations that make it difficult to operate navigation systems such as GPS inside Russian territory without special permission. It said private users could use GPS-only receivers anywhere except in close vicinity to certain Russian military installations.
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