RIA Novosti,
Moscow: Russian Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Thursday that Russia planned to launch three GLONASS satellites on December 25, reports RIA Novosti
He said Russia also planned to eventually increase the number of GLONASS satellites in orbit to 17. They will have a seven-year service life, he said.
According to Ivanov, Russia is developing new generation spacecraft.
“They will be made much more multifunctional. We do not need the old Soviet type of satellites,” Ivanov said.
The group of Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System satellites, analogues to the United States' Global Position System (GPS) spacecraft, will be replenished by new generation, GLONASS-M, satellites with a seven-year service life and GLONASS-K satellites with a 10-year life.
The satellites will provide information for Russia's military and civilian consumers worldwide and will raise the accuracy of tracking moving and stationary objects.
