spacetoday.net: Russia launches 3 GLONASS satellites

Posted: Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 6:30 AM ET (1030 GMT)
GLONASS spacecraft illustration (NPO PM)

A Proton rocket launched three Russian navigation satellites on Thursday. The Proton-M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:49 am EDT (0849 GMT) Thursday and placed the three GLONASS satellites into medium Earth orbit. The launch is the latest step in an effort by the Russian government to reconstitute the GLONASS system, which fell into disrepair several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia plans to launch three more GLONASS satellites by the end of the year and increase the size of the overall satellite constellation from the current 16 to 30 by the end of 2011, providing an alternative to the existing US GPS system and the planned European Galileo network. The launch was also the second Proton launch in less than a week, after another Proton-M launched a commercial communications satellite last week.