Russia launches three new navigation satellites: report

MOSCOW, March 1, 2010 (AFP) - A Russian Proton-M rocket was launched into space Monday with three new satellites for Moscow's GLONASS navigation system, aimed at competing with US and European systems, a report said.

The satellites were placed into orbit after the rocket blasted off from Russia's Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan at 2119 GMT, a Russian space agency spokesman said, according to the Ria-Novosti news agency.


The 1.4-tonne satellites join 22 others that are part of the GLONASS system, which fell into disrepair after the collapse of the Soviet Union but which Russia had hoped to restore completely by last year.

GLONASS was initially developed by the Russian military in the 1980s to compete with the US Global Positioning System (GPS), and will in the future face competition from Europe's Galileo.


by Lachlan Carmichael
© 2010 AFP