The Worldwide Race in GNSS

[nrj]

Russia may grant Ukraine access to Glonass for military use

Russia is ready to consider giving Ukraine access to high-precision targeting signals provided by the Glonass satellite navigation system, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.

Glonass is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

"If the Ukrainian government shows interest in gaining access to a [Glonass] high-precision signal, we will readily consider this issue," Ivanov told reporters in Moscow.

Russia earlier proposed setting up a joint venture with Ukraine for the development and implementation of the Glonass system.

Ivanov said Russia has been successfully cooperating with India on the use of the Glonass system for defense purposes after Moscow and New Delhi signed a relevant agreement in March.

Russian-built Glonass receivers for aiming and target acquisition are used, in particular, on Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles. According to Indian sources, the receivers have so far performed reliably and consistently.

Russia currently has a total of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit, but three of them are not operational. Three more Glonass-M satellites are scheduled for launch by the end of 2010, allowing Russia to operate a complete Glonass network of 24 operational satellites and have 3-4 satellites in reserve.

 

[SHASH2K2]

 

[SHASH2K2]

SkyTraq Introduces New GLONASS/GPS Receiver​

SkyTraq introduces S4554GNS, a high-performance low- power GLONASS/GPS receiver. The 88-channel receiver features industry leading 29 second cold start TTFF, -155dBm tracking, and -145dBm cold start sensitivity, offering best-in-class performance among GLONASS/GPS receivers on the market.

The S4554GNS is capable operating in GPS-only, GLONASS- only, and GLONASS + GPS modes. It is ideal for navigation and tracking applications requiring high- performance lower-cost GLONASS/GPS receiver.

Using dual GLONASS + GPS navigation satellite systems, S4554GNS offers better satellite signal availability performance. Dedicated search engine within S4554GNS is capable of performing 10 million time-frequency hypothesis testing per second, offering industry-leading signal acquisition performance for GLONASS and GPS signal.

Advanced track engine enables continuous locking of signals down to -155dBm, combining multipath detection and mitigation algorithm; it is capable of continuous accurate navigation in difficult urban canyon and deep foliage conditions.

S4554GNS comes in compact 45mm x 54mm form factor, with SMA connector and 20-pin header for easy plug-and-play usage. The operating temperature range is -40 ~ +85degC.

Volume delivery to customer begins in February 2010. Engineering sample, datasheet, reference design, and evaluation kits are available now.

 

[SHASH2K2]

3 Russian satellites crashed in the pacific ocean off Hawaii
​

MOSCOW: Russia failed Sunday to send three Glonass navigation satellites into orbit after they were launched by a rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome, space industry sources told Russian news agencies.

"The ballistics experts have checked everything: the upper-stage rocket with the satellites is not on the main, intermediate nor emergency orbit," a source told the RIA Novosti news agency.

"Our calculations show that the upper-stage rocket with the satellites probably fell into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii," the source said.

The Glonass system is designed by the Russian government as a rival to the United States government's Global Positioning System (GPS).

Russia launched the rocket carrying three of its Glonass navigation satellites into space shortly after 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Interfax news agency reported.


Read more: 3 Russian satellites crashed in the pacific ocean off Hawaii - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Hawaii-/articleshow/7048804.cms#ixzz17GNoZNOK

 

[The Messiah]

I bet yanks must be licking there lips in anticipitation to "study" these satellites.

 

[A.V.]

The PROTON -M and the 3 satellites that were supposed to complete the glonass were insured to the levels int he preliminary report the problem was in the transition from the third to the fourth stage booster , running into millions of dollars of loss and delay in the project but it will be overcome and soon we might see the functional unit up and running

 

[SHASH2K2]

The PROTON -M and the 3 satellites that were supposed to complete the glonass were insured to the levels int he preliminary report the problem was in the transition from the third to the fourth stage booster , running into millions of dollars of loss and delay in the project but it will be overcome and soon we might see the functional unit up and running

Its really bad news actually and will delay the project. Any idea about when next satellites can be launched?

 

[A.V.]

no idea as of now but as projected the expansion will be on time by 2018 expect glonass to be the biggest navigation system

 

[SHASH2K2]

GLONASS Hunt for Culprits in Launch Failure​

Surplus fuel loaded in error onboard the launch rocket caused loss of three new GLONASS satellites on December 5. The mishap burdened the DM-3 booster rocket with an excess of 1.5 to 2 tons of fuel, causing it to deviate from its course after blast-off and dive into the Pacific Ocean instead of reaching orbit altitude — dashing hopes for an imminent, nearly full global operational GLONASS capability.

"The problem was not with the fuel service unit at the launching site, but with one of the sensors showing the fuel level," said Gennady Raikunov, the head of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building. "We do not rule out the factor of human error," he said, adding that the Russian corporation Energia may be linked to the incident.

News correspondent Peter de Selding, writing in the December 10 issue of Space News, reported that a new version of the Block DM upper rocket stage, which was used for the GLONASS launch, features larger propellant tanks than earlier versions. The DM stage is built by RSC Energia of Korolev, Russia.
"In what appears to have been a remarkable oversight," de Selding wrote, "the personnel fueling the Block DM stage for the GLONASS launch did not account for the larger tanks. That led to loading between 1,000 and 2,000 kilograms more propellant on the Block DM stage than what had been planned for the mission. As a result of the excess propellant, the Proton's third stage, suffering from the additional weight it was carrying, underperformed, placing the Block DM stage and the stack of GLONASS satellites into a lower-than-planned suborbital drop-off point."

There seems to be plenty of blame to go around, and rumors are that heads will roll in various parts of the Russian territory. On December 17, the Russian news agency reported that "The preliminary results of the investigation commission indicate that Energia miscalculated how much fuel needed to be loaded into the DM-3 rocket booster," said Gennady Raikunov, director general of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building who headed the investigation into the December 5 launch failure. "The amount of oxidant exceeded the norm by 1–1.5 tons and excessive weight prevented the Proton-M rocket from putting the satellites into calculated orbit."

The preliminary report says a new, untested method for fueling the upper stage of the rocket apparently led to the error, but also blames satellite manufacturer Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems for not properly managing launch preparations. Indeed, how launch technicians could have loaded such a greater amount of fuel onboard without asking questions provokes, well, questions.

Get Back on That Horse. On December 12, the next-generation GLONASS-K1 satellite, serial number 11, was shipped to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome about 800 kilometers north of Moscow. According to manufacturer ISS Reshetnev, the satellite will transmit five navigation signals: two signals of normal and two of high precision in the L1 and L2 frequency bands, and a new code-division multiple-access (CDMA) civil signal in the L3 band (1205 MHz). The last is destined to shift the Russian constellation at least partly towards CDMA signal broadcast, in line with GPS and Galileo. It points towards possible and eventual interoperability of some kind between the systems.

Launch is scheduled for December 27 or 28 on a modernized Soyuz-2.1.b rocket equipped with a Fregat upper stage.

March FOC Vowed. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, has stated that the setback is temporary and he plans to have a full 24-satellite constellation functioning by next March. He plans to accomplish this by repositioning one of the satellites now in maintenance and then bringing it back on line and by launching two more satellites over the next few months.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Cross post .

Russia, India ink agreement to share GLONASS signals ​

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI)

India and Russia today signed an agreement to share high precision signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).

The agreement to share the high precision signal from GLONASS satellites was signed on the sidelines of the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Glonass is the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

The agreement envisages Russia providing access to the GLONASS High Precision Navigation signals to India, officials said.

During their bilateral talks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Medvedev appreciated the progress being made in India's utilisation of GLONASS.

Russia currently has a total of 26 GLONASS satellites in orbit, and all but three are operational.

Earlier this month, Russia's attempt to launch three more GLONASS-M satellites failed after the rocket carrying them deviated from its path and plunged into the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii.

The three lost satellites would have allowed Russia to operate a complete GLONASS network of 24 operational satellites and have several satellites in reserve.

In March, Roscosmos, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NIS GLONASS signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

Later, representatives from NIS GLONASS and ISRO's commercial arm -- Antrix agreed to set up a joint venture for providing navigation and information services on the GLONASS-GPS platform.

Singh and Medvedev also reviewed the progress made in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation.

"They expressed satisfaction at the extension of the Integrated Long Term Program (ILTP) for scientific and technical cooperation for another decade and its focus on identifying innovation-led technology programs,"said a joint statement issued after the talks.

The two leaders said creation of new and innovative technologies would be at the heart of the respective economic modernisation programs in the two countries.

"Continuous efforts would be made to identify programmes that would be built on the existing linkages between Indian and Russian scientific establishments. The new Indian- Russian S&T Centre would facilitate such programs,"the statement said.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Medvedev fires space chiefs after satellite crash​

MOSCOW: President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday fired two top space officials and reprimanded the space agency chief after a launch failure caused Russia to delay the deployment of its own navigation system.

This month's failed launch of three Glonass-M orbiters marked a humiliating setback to the country's efforts to introduce a global rival to the US Global Positioning System (GPS).

A presidential statement said Energia Vice President Vyacheslav Filin and Roskosmos deputy head Viktor Remishevsky had been fired for "the mistakes made in the fuel calculations".

The Russian Proton-M rocket proved too heavy to reach its initial orbit during the December 5 launch and was forced to dump the three high-tech Glonass-M satellites near the Hawaii Islands.

The brief statement said Medvedev had also reprimanded Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov and ordered the agency to be more careful in its future work.

"On the Russian president's instructions, Roskosmos will undertake additional measures to strengthen its performance discipline," the Kremlin statement said.

The satellites would have completed a system whose research had been started by the Soviet Union in 1976 before being interrupted and then picked up again by the country's president-turned premier Vladimir Putin.

Russia's de-facto number one has vowed to place Glonass readers on every car made in Russia by 2012 and hailed the system as an example of how the country can claw back its Soviet-era technological might.

But analysts said that Glonass would more importantly enable Russia to finally target its missiles and other weapons from space -- something that other armies using the GPS system have been doing for years.

"This has turned into a political issue because -- on top of everything else -- it also came in the middle of the START (nuclear disarmament) negotiations," said independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.

"Russia had been trying to show the Americans that it has this incredible system that proves that it must be treated as an equal -- and then all of a sudden this happens," said Felgenhauer.

"Obviously someone had to be sacked after that."

Russia and the United States have been engaged in tortuous negotiations over a new disarmament treaty that was ratified after much deliberation by the US Senate on December 22.

The United States was able to keep the treaty free of language that prevented its deployment of a new missile shield in Europe -- a system opposed by Russia throughout the talks.

But those negotiations were over and analysts said that Russia was now left dealing with a series of systemic failures that underscored how serious its lag behind the United States really was.

Analysts said Moscow refuses to allow the GPS systems into its space and weapons programmes because this would potentially enable Washington to switch off the satellites used by Russia in times of conflict or war.

But Russia has not only failed to get the necessary number of satellites in orbit but also been unable to mass produce the land-based readers that receive the signals from space.

"The irony is that we have been told a million times that we cannot rely on the GPS because the Americans could switch it off at any moment," said military commentator Alexander Golts.

"But at the same time, our inability to produce these readers means that we will either have to produce them in Taiwan or China or simply go ahead and purchase them there," said Golts.

"And where is the safety in that?"

Read more: Medvedev fires space chiefs after satellite crash - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-crash/articleshow/7185598.cms#ixzz19WUzv4Ip

 

[cobra commando]

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).

Russia to Build 50 GLONASS Stations in 36 Countries | Russia | RIA Novosti