GLONASS - News

Just epic, you steal money and then blame designer :

MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – The chief designer or Russia’s scandal-hit Glonass satellite navigation system, Yury Urlichich, was fired from his job, a spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Sunday.

The decision was made by the government’s military-industrial commission, which is headed by Rogozin, the spokeswoman said.

Russia’s rival to GPS was rocked by fraud allegations earlier this month, with the Interior Ministry accusing unnamed Glonass officers of embezzling 6.5 billion rubles ($200 million) of program’s funds.

The crackdown on Glonass was backed on Sunday by head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Ivanov, an ex-Defense Minister and alleged Rogozin ally who said that the investigation into the Glonass fraud was ongoing since 2010.

No charges were reported against Urlichich or other Glonass makers as of late Sunday.

The case comes hot on the heels of a reshuffle at the Defense Ministry, whose head Anatoly Serdyukov was sacked last week. The official reason for dismissal was a fraud case against his subordinates, but most analysts attributed it to his defeat in a turf war against Rogozin.

The Glonass program was in the works since the 1970s, but underwent a radical revamp in 2001. The 24 satellites comprising the system were put into orbit by 2010, though not after several costly malfunctions and launch failures. The program cost 140 billion rubles ($4.4 billion) to implement, and its budget for 2012-2020 stands at a further 326 billion rubles ($10 billion).

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20121111/177373935.html

Have there been new satellites launched?

Glonass-K was just postponed for 2013.

Accuracy of GLONASS in 2020 will be increased to 0.6 m

Roscosmos suggests 2020 to enter the location accuracy for the GLONASS system in less than 10 centimeters, the head office, Vladimir Popovkin said at a government meeting, which addresses the space program until 2020.

"Today, the measurement accuracy of 2,8 meters by 2015 we go to 1.4 meters by 2020, 0.6 meters," - he said.

In this case, Popovkin said that "in view of the amendments, which are now implemented, in fact it will be less than 10 cm accuracy."

Interview: GLONASS has become very important for the national security and rapid social-economic development of the Russian Federation

Successful launch of Cosmos-2485 - Glonass-M satellite

At 09:23:41 MSK on April 26, 2013 (03:23:41 UTC), the Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b launcher from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk launch site. The launcher, equipped with a Fregat-M boost stage, successfully delivered into orbit a Glonass-M navigation satellite.

The satellite has been given Cosmos-2485 designation. It received international designation 2013-019A and NORAD number 39155. The internal number of the satellite is 747. The new satellite was deployed in the first orbital plane of the Glonass constellation.

Previous Glonass launch took place on 28 November 2011.

Proton-M crashes immediately after Take Off with 3 Glonass Satellite

Video of Proton-M crash

Updates Paragraph 9-12 with estimated damage and Rogozin comments.


Russian Rocket Crashes Seconds After Launch, Toxic Fuel Alight


MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass satellites veered off course seconds after its launch from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur space center early Tuesday, crashing in a large fireball.

“There was an accident during the Proton-M launch. The rocket fell and exploded on the territory of the launch site,” a spokesman for Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

There were no reported casualties, but officials said a cloud of poisonous smoke was generated by the rocket’s burning fuel and could spread across the local area. An emergency evacuation of personnel at the site was underway, according to Russian media reports.

The reasons for the crash were not immediately clear, but Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said a near instantaneous failure of the rocket’s first-stage engine was to blame.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a governmental commission to be formed to look into the causes of the crash and present a list of officials responsible for the accident, said his press secretary, Natalya Timakova.

Medvedev also instructed Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to draw up a list of measures to tighten oversight of the space sector and prevent such accidents in the future, Timakova said.

All Proton-M launches have been suspended until the commission completes its work, after which a new launch schedule will be drawn up, Khrunichev representative Alexander Bobrenyov said.

The next launch of a Proton-M rocket, set for July 20, was to have put into orbit the Astra 2-T satellite, he said.

Rogozin warned that heads would roll after the commission completed its work and more far-reaching measures would be taken on an organizational level.

The current shape of the space and rocket industry is unacceptable “for further movement forward,” he said.

The financial losses caused by the Proton-M crash with three Glonass satellites will be no less than 6 billion rubles ($200 million), a space industry source privy to the situation told RIA Novosti.

“The losses from the previous [failed launch with a Briz-M booster] totaled 5.4 billion. Now I believe [the figure] will be higher. The costs of both the satellites and the Proton-M have increased since then,” the source said.

It is the second unsuccessful launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket with Russia's flagship Glonass positioning system on board in the last three years, and is another setback for Moscow’s space program.



The blast-off, which took place from Baikonur at 8:38 a.m. local time, was broadcast live by Rossiya-24 television channel. Footage shows the rocket rolling while flying a wobbly arc, beginning to disintegrate as it catches fire and then slamming into the ground in a large ball of flame and black smoke. The whole flight lasted 17 seconds, according to Roscosmos.
©Ser She
Russian Proton-M Rocket Explodes Shortly After Launch. Witness Footage
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There was 600 tons of highly toxic heptyl, amyl and kerosene rocket fuels on board, according to Talgat Musabaev, the head of Kazakhstan’s space agency.

Rain was helping to contain the poisonous smoke given off from the burning fuel, but it “might” continue to drift, said the head of Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry Vladimir Bozhko. The nearest town to the launch site is about 60 kilometers (36 miles) away and is rented and administered by Russia.

Work at the Baikonur space center will probably be suspended for the next two or three months because of contamination, a source in the Russian space industry told RIA Novosti. A scheduled launch of a Progress M-20M spacecraft from Baikonur on July 27 is likely to be delayed, the source added.

A commission headed by Roscosmos deputy head Alexander Lopatin will be set up to investigate the causes of the crash, a Roscosmos spokesman said.

The financial cost of the accident is unclear, but the rocket was insured for 6 billion rubles ($182 million) with the Russian Insurance Center, according an insurance industry source.

© RIA Novosti.

Losses from Failed Roscosmos Launches

The accident is the latest in a series of problems that have plagued Russia’s Glonass program, which was begun during the Soviet era and reinvigorated with huge cash injections in the 2000s. The Kremlin’s answer to the US’ GPS system, Glonass has also been the center of several recent corruption scandals.

The Proton-M rocket has suffered a string of technical problems and launch failures. Three Glonass satellites were lost in December 2010 when a Proton-M veered off course and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. That incident was blamed on engineers overloading the rocket with fuel, said International Launch Services, the US firm that markets commercial Proton launches.

Another Proton-M mission was unsuccessful in December 2010 after a failure in the rocket’s upper-stage Briz engine, its maker Khrunichev said. A control system glitch caused the loss of a Proton-M in August 2011, while complications with a Briz engine led to the loss of a Proton mission a year later.

The partial failure of a Briz booster on a Proton rocket in December 2012 caused the payload to be put into an incorrect orbit, which was later corrected, Roscosmos said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130702/182002715/Russian-Proton-M-Rocket-Falls-Shortly-After-Launch.html

Americans going paranoid. They fear Roscosmos GLONASS stations over the US will be used for spying. 


A Russian GPS Using U.S. Soil Stirs Spy Fears

  

Three satellites "Glonass-M" exceeded calculated Lifetime

20 more days   

"Glonass-M" will launch into orbit on March 24

all is set for tomorrow

Carrier rocket with Glonass establish Plesetsk on March 21

Another GLONASS-M up

Troops military space defense accompany block "Frigate" satellite "Glonass-M"

Satellite navigation "Glonass-M" launched into the target orbit
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March 24, 2014 6:37

Moscow. March 24. INTERFAX.RU - navigation satellite "Glonass-M" global positioning system GLONASS successfully separated from the upper stage "Fregat" and went into the target orbit, said Monday, "Interfax-AVN," spokesman Forces Aerospace Defense (VVKO) Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin .


"Spacecraft" Glonass-M "cleanly separated from the upper stage. 06:26 MSK it took control Main Testing Space Center Titov," - he said. "With the spacecraft installed and maintained stable telemetric communication. Its onboard systems are functioning normally," - said A.Zolotuhin.

This is really weird, what with an apparently similar problem happening not even 2 weeks ago.
They say it is due to human error in data entry, but that was the case before and they supposedly fixed it.
What with events in Ukraine it seems doubly suspicious...???

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/15/c_133264386.htm

MOSCOW, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Nine Russian navigation satellites had gone out of service for the second time in this month, the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said Tuesday.

According to Roscosmos, between 01:00 and 01:30 Moscow time (2100 - 2130 GMT), eight satellites of the Glonass navigation system reported malfunctions. Earlier, at 22:20 Moscow time (1820 GMT) on Monday, one more Glonass satellite reported a glitch.

Roscosmos said eight out of nine satellites have already been recovered.

"The half-hour glitch was fixed," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Nikolai Testoyedov, director general of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company, which produces the satellites, as saying.

He blamed the malfunctions to human factor -- wrong data entry to the satellites' onboard computers happening in a process of software updating.

That was the second time in two weeks when Glonass system reported malfunctions. On April 2, it failed for over 10 hours with all its satellites sending wrong navigation data to the users.

The Russian global navigation system Glonass currently consists of 23 satellites.

Russia to Build 50 GLONASS Stations in 36 Countries
Russia to Build 50 GLONASS Stations in 36 Countries

MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia plans to build 50 stations of Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) in several dozen countries across the world, Russian presidential administration chief told the Navitech 2014 forum for navigation system Wednesday.

“We will continue promoting GLONASS technologies on global markets. We will increase competitiveness of Russian navigation services. To this aim, we will create a ground measuring segment abroad,” Sergei Ivanov said.

“Ideally, in prospect, we would like to have 50 data-collection stations in 36 countries. This guarantees more stable and precise work of GLONASS,” Ivanov said.

Russia also plans to create a single navigation space with Kazakhstan and Belarus, Ivanov said.

The Global Navigation Satellite System, which began operating in 1993, is a Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System (GPS). The GLONASS network provides real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects with an accuracy of one meter (three feet).

New software replacement caused minor problems

Glonass Failure Caused by Faulty Software – Roscosmos

Iran to Host Russian Satellite Navigation Facility

MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – A ground-based facility for the Russian satellite navigation system Glonass is to be built in Iran, the Russian Izvestia newspaper said Tuesday, citing a decision by an intergovernmental group on space cooperation.

“The Iranian side said it was ready to install elements of the Differential Correction and Monitoring System (SDCM), as well as a quantum optical system on the Iranian territory to maintain the Glonass system,” the minutes of the group's April 10 meeting said, according to Izvestia.

The system will allow better positioning accuracy and greater reliability.

Anatoly Shilov, the deputy head of the Russian space agency, said in late April that the accuracy of Russia’s Glonass satellite navigation system could be boosted to one meter when used within Russia by the end of the year. By 2020, Glonass should reach a global positioning accuracy of 60 cm, he said.

Currently, Glonass provides global coverage with the help of four such ground-based systems outside Russia: one in Brazil and three in the Antarctic.

Russia to stop operation of GPS stations if GLONASS talks unsuccessful — deputy PM

Tass wrote: If talks with the United States on placement of Glonass stations in the United States prove unsuccessful, the operation of GPS stations in Russia will be stopped completely, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday.

Rogozin said the US side suspended work on the issue of placing Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) transmission stations on US territory. American Global Positioning System (GPS) signal transmission stations are placed in ten Russian regions.

TASS

Good move.

Russian space agency expects Glonass stations in BRICS states to boost competitiveness

The deployment of Glonass global navigation system stations in BRICS member countries will boost the network competitiveness, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large, executive secretary of the interdepartmental commission for Russian membership in the G20 and the BRICS Group Vadim Lukov said.

"A project of the sort implemented in collaboration with BRICS countries will strengthen the global nature of our network and add to its competitiveness on the retail market. The market of BRICS countries boasts 3 billion consumers, and many of them consume satellite services," Lukov told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 4th international conference "BRICS: Cooperation for Development", Interfax reports.

Roscosmos proposed the deployment of high-precision satellite navigation elements in BRICS countries to the Russian government, Lukin said.

He also called lawful the Russian demands that Glonass stations be deployed in the United States.

Negotiations about the deployment of Glonass stations in the United States were suggested by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

"The government has ordered that an interdepartmental delegation be set up, a group of the Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos.

They offered the United States to hold negotiations and make a decision on the deployment of Glonass stations on the US territory," he said.

Rogozin said the US GPS stations in Russia might be halted and dismantled.

If the US partners do not respond by May 31, the operation of GPS stations will be suspended for three months. A decision to dismantle these stations will be made on August 31 unless the negotiations yield a compromise within that period, Rogozin said.

Very good news! Russia and China to join forces in satellite navigation to give GPS a run for it's money:

Russia may join forces with China to compete with US, European satnavs

Russia and China are eyeing a number of joint high-tech projects, ranging from creation of a new long-range passenger plane to joining forces on a satellite navigation system to compete with American GPS and European Galileo.

The range of prospects was outlined on Friday by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who met Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang in Siberian Novosibirsk. Rogozin said Russia would develop cooperation with BRICS members in defiance of any possible Western sanctions.

“Our technological partnership should be directed at the countries that are close to us in mentality and which in general constitute an emerging geopolitical force that we could rely on in opposing the monopolar world. Those are BRICS countries first and foremost,” he said.

BRICS are an informal group of developing economies comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with a combined economic and political power allowing them to defend their interests in a world dominated by US-led Western countries.

Rogozin set examples of several joint projects Russia has or may have with China. The most concrete is the project for a new long-range wide-hull airliner with an estimated development cost of $7-8 billion. Russia and China have already signed a memorandum on it in May.

Another aviation project the countries may pursuit is the modernization of Mil Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter. The aircraft design would be altered for smaller weight, but without compromising its capacity too much. The new helicopter would be able to carry up to 15 tons of cargo as opposed to 20 tons of the original.



If both pilot projects do well, Russia and China may form a permanent cooperation consortium similar to Europe’s Airbus, Rogozin said.

China and Russia may also find synergy in space by making their respective satellite navigation systems, Glonass and Beidou, more compatible, the Russian official said.

“We see good prospect in cooperation between the Russian Glonass system and the Chinese navigation system,” he said. “Our system is more suitable for northern, polar latitudes. The Chinese system is more southern. Their complementariness would result in a biggest and most powerful competitor to any navigation system."

Rogozin’s shot was aimed at both American GPS, which was the focus of a recent fallout between Russia and the US, and the European Galileo.

He also commented on Russia’s downgrade of the work of ground stations of the Differential GPS network based in the Russian territory. This week’s move was Moscow’s response to Washington’s failure to allow deployment of similar Glonass stations in America.

“When we have 11 American GPS stations operating in Russia since early 1990s, we are entitled to expect a right to deploy similar Glonass stations in the US,” Rogozin said. “But here we faced an obvious trend to politicize the issue. There were some statements that the Russian stations would act as some sort of spies.”

He added that he hopes Washington would change its mind and seek a compromise by September 1.

http://rt.com/news/164192-russia-china-gps-competitor/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Nice   

Launched from Plesetsk rocket "Soyuz 2.1b" satellite system GLONASS

Nice   

GLONASS-M satellite taken to orbit

Two more GLONASS stations will be installed in Brazil

Following the results of negotiations between the leaders of Russia and Brazil a number of cooperation agreements have been signed, Gazeta.ru reports.

In particular, two Memorandums of Understanding related to installation and operation of GLONASS measurement stations in Brazil have been signed: the first one – with the Federal University of Santa Maria and the second one – with Instituto de Tecnologia de Pernambuco (Technological Institute of Pernambuco).

In addition, an agreement of scientific and technological cooperation between Scientific Research Institute of vaccines and serums of Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) and Butantan Institute has also been signed.