Technical failures plague GLONASS sat nav system
Published 23 January, 2008, 22:49
Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov has told the country's Federal Space Agency that the Glonass (the Global Navigation Satellite System) must work better. Glonass was set up to challenge the dominance of the American GPS system but is still unable to cover the whole of Russia.
It's one of the most anticipated projects in the Russian space programme. But it could end up a major disappointment.
The man who's been promoting it, Sergey Ivanov, has for the first time expressed major criticism.
“Currently the number of satellites in orbit does not allow the full coverage of the Russian territory. And the accuracy of the system is not up to international standards. These standards are well-known – the standards of GPS,” Sergey Ivanov said.
The plan was to make the navigation system operational by the start of this year, covering the whole of Russia, and it had to be available to the mass market.
But to date only 16 out of 18 satellites are working.
So far, the Glonass satellites are primarily launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome – a space launch pad that Kazakhstan leases to Russia.
But Sergey Ivanov wants these launches to take place on Russian soil from 2016.
“We now also have to concentrate on erecting a new cosmodrome, ‘Vostochny’, in Russia's Far East. We'll practically have to build a new city,” he said.
The new cosmodrome is expected to be capable of launching any type of rocket.
Today Russia remains a leader in commercial space launches. And many hope that the new launch pad will help develop its position.
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