MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax) - The Russian orbital navigation system GLONASS will guarantee round-the-clock signal coverage of Russia's entire territory when the number of satellites is brought to 17.
"The GLONASS satellite constellation already uses GLONASS/GPS navigation receivers globally without any restrictions. When brought to 17 satellites, the system will guarantee round-the-clock navigation of the Russian territory, with maintenance intervals lasting for just a few minutes per day, which means that the navigation services will be of a better quality," Alexei Pchelintsev, the first deputy executive director of the GLONASS/GNSS-Forum Association, told Interfax-AVN.
The GLONASS system has 14 operating satellites. One satellite is under technical maintenance and another one has reached the end of its service life and will be removed from the system. A Proton launch vehicle will take three GLONASS-M satellites into space from Baikonur at 11:49 a.m., Moscow time on September 25, to enlarge the Russian orbital system.
The satellites will switch on as they are stationed in the working points of the orbit, following a series of relevant technical operations. This is expected to last 30 to 60 days from the launch date. "Seventeen satellites as a minimum will be in operation in the middle of November," Pchelintsev said.
Three more satellites will be added to the GLONASS constellation in December.
The government increased the funding for the GLONASS system by 67 billion rubles in September. "This demonstrates the serious plans to elevate the GLONASS system to the GPS level," Pchelintsev said.
The money provided will be spent on GLONASS development and upgrade, and used to enhance its precision characteristics, to design a new satellite, Glonass-K, with a service life of ten years (compared to the current 7-year guaranteed active service life of Glonass-M satellites), to design navigation equipment for GLONASS/GPS users and to introduce navigation know-how into the Russian economy, he said.