Russia Decommissions Five Unhealthy GLONASS Satellites

January 15, 2008

GNSS signal observers have noted that Russia decommissioned five GLONASS satellites last week, while three satellites launched December 25 have yet to be fully commissioned.

The Russian navigation satellite constellation currently has 13 satellites operating and set to healthy. The five decommissioned last week — 794, 789, 711, 792, and 798 — had all been set to unhealthy previously; in some cases, for more than a year. The three satellites launched last month, 721, 722, and 723, are currently in transition to their operational orbital slots as part of their commissioning phase, according to the Russian Space Agency.

GNSS observers report that GLONASS 723, however, is already transmitting receivable L-band signals and can be tracked by some "all-in-view" International GNSS Service tracking stations as of today.

Once 721, 722, and 723 are fully commissioned and set to healthy, GLONASS signals will be available across 90 percent of Russia and 80 percent of the globe, according to Russian space officials. The country has six additional GLONASS satellites scheduled for launch this year.

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