MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian global satellite navigation system GLONASS will start operating globally in 2010, that is, a year later than was originally planned, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) chief Anatoly Perminov said.
"The program will be implemented with a slight one-year shift. The system will start working globally in 2010," Perminov told journalists on Saturday.
The Russian Security Council members approved all of Roscosmos proposals on the development of the GLONASS program at a Friday session, Perminov said. "All the decisions have been approved not only regarding the financing of the orbital constellation, but also regarding the resource base, receivers, navigation maps, and ground differentiation stations, including those abroad," he said.
The Russian leadership demanded that the GLONASS system be extremely reliable and efficient, Perminov said. "And this will certainly be accomplished, because the officers responsible for the program's implementation have been designated," he said.