MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th May, 2019) Russia plans to launch 46 satellites for its Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS by 2034, the materials of Russian space agency Roscosmos, shared with Sputnik, showed on Thursday.
In late April, a source in the rocket and space industry told Sputnik that the launch of the GLONASS-M navigation satellite from the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome was postponed from May 13 to May 27.
Roscosmos' materials showed that the space agency planned to launch four Glonass-M satellites, nine Glonass-K satellites and 33 Glonass-K2 vehicles in 2019-2033.
Particularly, the launches are planned for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2029, 2030, 2032 and 2033.
The GLONASS constellation currently comprises a total of 26 satellites, including 24 Glonass-M and two Glonass-K vehicles.
The first Glonass-K satellite was launched in 2011 and is currently undergoing flight tests. The second vehicle of this type was launched in 2014 and has been operational since 2016.
The next-generation Glonass-K and Glonass-K2 satellites transmit more navigation signals and have a longer design life of up to 10 years in comparison with Glonass-M vehicles.
The materials also showed that Proton-M rockets would no longer be used for bringing the Glonass satellites to the orbit. Instead, Soyuz-2.1b and Angara A5 rockets would be used for this purpose.
In 2010-2013, six Glonass-M satellites were lost in three Proton-M crashes. The use of the rocket is planned to be discontinued in 2025.
According to Roscosmos, in 2019-2033, 28 Soyuz-2.1b rockets and nine Angara A5 vehicles would be launched from Plesetsk and Vostochny cosmodromes, bringing Glonass satellites to the orbit.
The first launch of a Glonass satellite atop the Angara A5 rocket is planned for the first quarter of 2024.
