Nikolay Testoedov, general director and chief designer of the Applied Mechanics Scientific Design Organization
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A Temporary Glitch in GLONASS
The GLONASS satellite navigation system will begin to function on the territory of Russia by the end of the year, that is, a year behind schedule. The new timeframe was approved yesterday by a council of the system's main designers. The council met yesterday at Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering. “It was a very optimistic forecast,” Nikolay Testoedov, general director and chief designer of the Applied Mechanics Scientific Design Organization, which is creating the satellites for the system, said of the December 31, 2007, deadline. “They thought that satellites with a guaranteed service life of three years would work for five years,” he explained.
Consequently, even though all six planned satellite launches took place last year, the orbiting group consisted of only 16 working satellites as of March 27. Eighteen are needed for the GLONASS (the abbreviation stands for Global Navigational Satellite System) to function. The more satellites are expected to age out of the group by the end of the year. Plans remain unchanged to launch three new GLONASS-M satellites in September and December. They will complete the system.
In addition, efforts continue to increase the accuracy of the system. “The error in the determination of coordinates by the GLONASS space apparatus is about 10 m. today. In the near future [that is, by 2010], accuracy will be raised to 5m.,” deputy general director of the Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering Grigory Stupak said earlier this month. The accuracy of the American GPS system is 2 m. On March 12, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “For consumer to chose GLONASS, the system has to work flawlessly, better than GPS. Cheaper and better in quality.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 28, 2008
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