Roscosmos, Transport Ministry Sign GLONASS Agreement

An interagency agreement for the maintenance, development and use of GLONASS was signed Dec. 5 between Russia’s Ministry of Transport and the Russian Space Agency, according to Roscosmos.

The agreement seeks to increase the efficiency of the use of civilian infrastructure for the development of GLONASS coordinate-time and navigation for the Russian Federation, as well as international cooperation in the field of satellite navigation.

Priority areas of cooperation will be:

• integration of resources in departmental networks for tracking GNSS signals to improve the performance of coordinate-time and navigation in Russian Federation territory using GLONASS, and improving the safety and efficiency of different modes of transport;
• implementation of a coordinated technical policy to support the functioning of terrestrial systems for the efficient use of GLONASS;
• the creation of a center for collection, storage, use and provision of information to interested consumers on the state of GNSS;
• implementation of Russian Federation policy to create conditions that promote domestic navigation technologies based on the GLONASS system abroad.

The interagency agreement will further improve certain aspects of GLONASS, which will make the services of the Russian navigation system more attractive not only for the domestic market, but also the international market.

The agreement was signed during Transport Week, an annual business event that is one of the largest Russian forums on issues of development and improvement of Russia’s transport system.