GLONASS Fully Operational, First Time in 15 Years
December 8, 2011 By: Richard B. LangleyFor the first time in more than 15 years, GLONASS is fully operational, with 24 satellites in their designated orbital slots, set healthy, and providing world coverage.
GLONASS 744, an M-class satellite and one of three launched from Baikonur on 4 November, was set healthy December 8 at 07:42 UTC, bringing the number of healthy operating satellites to the full complement of 24.
GLONASS briefly achieved a 24-satellite constellation in early 1996 but it degraded rapidly due to Russia’s economic difficulties following the break-up of the Soviet Union coupled with the short lifetime of the GLONASS satellites. Since 2002, the GLONASS constellation has slowly but surely been rebuilt with the Russian government's commitment to provide a global positioning and navigation system comparable to that of GPS.
The image below shows a snapshot of global GLONASS position dilution of precision (PDOP) as calculated by Roscosmos's Information-Analytical Centre. Most of the world has a PDOP value of less than 3, indicating good visibility and favorable geometry of the GLONASS constellation.
— News courtesy of Richard Langley and the CANSPACE Listserv.
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