SANTIAGO, Chile. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The production of Glonass-M navigation satellites will stop in 2015 and only next-generation satellites Glonass-K will be manufactured afterwards, General Director of the Information Satellites Systems based in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk territory, Nikolai Testoyedov told Interfax-AVN at the FIDAE-2014 International Air and Space Fair.
"We are finalizing the Glonass-M production program in 2015. Five satellites will be built this year and another two in 2015," he said.
These satellites will be deployed in orbit until the middle of 2016, and only Glonass-K satellites will be manufactured in the later period, Testoyedov said.
Another Glonass-M satellite was launched from the Plesetsk spaceport on March 24. As of now, the Glonass constellation consists of 29 vehicles, 24 of which are in operation, three are on standby, one is undergoing tests and one is being connected to the system.
Twenty-four operating satellites make the navigation coverage global. They are deployed in circular orbits at an altitude of 19,100 kilometers and an inclination of 64.8 degrees on three orbital planes with eight satellites on each plane.