MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - Launches of the import-substituted configuration of Glonass-K2 navigation satellites will begin in 2025, Director of the Krasnoyarsk Research Center's Space Technology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian branch, Academy member Nikolai Testoyedov said.
"It is planned to start launching upgraded Glonass-K2 satellites in the import-substituted but multifunctional configuration, i.e. with every additional navigation function developed earlier, in 2025," Testoyedov said in a scientific report at the Academy's general meeting on Tuesday.
Modification of the satellites will continue, including according to the composition of navigation signals, he said.
"These satellites will create local navigation zones with a signal 100 times higher than standard, thus increasing noise immunity," Testoyedov said.
Glonass-K2 is an upgraded version of the third-generation Glonass-K satellites (the first generation was Glonass, and the second generation was Glonass-M). The Glonass system's deployment is continuing alongside the development of the European Galileo global navigation system, the U.S. GPS, and China's Beidou.
The Glonass system, which originally had a military purpose, was deployed simultaneously with the missile attack warning system in 1982 to provide operational navigation and time support for an unlimited number of land, sea, air and space-based users. Roscosmos, Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems, and Russian Space Systems are developing the Glonass project.