Russia reinforces Glonass navigation system with a next-generation satellite

Russia has successfully put into orbit its latest addition to its navigation satellite fleet Glonass, the Glonass-K, said Russian Aerospace Defense Forces spokesman, Col. Alexei Zolotukhin.

The new generation satellite will reinforce the Glonass navigation system, a space-based satellite navigation system operated by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, equivalent to the US Global Positioning System (GPS).

Glonass-K is a third-generation navigation satellite, developed by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systemshas. It has a longer lifespan and better accuracy than its predecessor, the Glonass-M second-generation satellite.

The Glonass-K model will eventually replace the Glonass-M satellites and significantly improve the precision of Russia's Glonass network.