5 GLONASS sats to join constellation in 2011

DATELINE: KOROLYOV, near Moscow July 27

Plans for building up Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) involve putting five satellites in orbit next year, the general director of Russian satellite manufacturer Information Satellite Systems said on Monday.

“This year we are launching six GLONASS-M satellites for replenishing the orbital group. In December, a new generation satellite, a GLONASS-K, is planned to be launched. Next year, five satellites are planned to be launched simultaneously with flight tests of the GLONASS-K satellite,” Nikolai Testoyedov told reporters.

Three of the five GLONASS-M satellites due to be added to GLONASS next year would be put in orbit via a triple launch by one Proton rocket. Each of the other two would be launched individually. “In other words, this is the start of the precision replenishment of the group through individual launches,” Testoyedov said.

The latest series of GLONASS replenishment has been carried out through triple launches.

Information satellite Systems is based in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk region.

Source: Interfax-AVN