Flight tests of the Russian high orbit satellite navigation system, called GLONASS, were started in 1982 with the launch of “Kosmos-1413” satellite. The GLONASS system was formally declared operational in 1993. In 1995 it was brought to a fully operational constellation (24 GLONASS satellites of the first generation).

The GLONASS system was preserved, modernized and became operational consisting of “GLONASS-K” satellites. Nowadays there are two existing operational global navigation satellite systems: GPS and GLONASS.

Ground control segment was modernized that together with the orbital constellation ensures the accuracy characteristics at a level commensurate with those of GPS.

The State Standard of time and frequency facilities and the Earth rotation parameters definition facilities were modernized.

It is necessary to keep improving the GLONASS system as well as user navigation equipment. In the first place it applies for high precision GLONASS applications where real-time accuracy at a level of a decimeter and a centimeter is necessary. It also relates to applications dealing with safety and security by air, sea and ground transport operation. Greater operational efficiency of navigation solutions and GLONASS interference resistance are needed.

Starting from 2012 the GLONASS system has been moving in the direction of efficient PNT task solving for the benefit of defense, security and social and economic development of the country in the near and distant future.

Credit: GLONASS

Meet part of Roscosmos’s 21st century version of the Soyuz rocket. 

One of the main upgrades included in the Soyuz 2.1b is a completely digital flight control system -- not a small task when the Soyuz rocket was first designed in the 1960s.

Stats

Height: 46.3 m (152 ft)

Diameter: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)

Mass: 312,000 kg (688,000 lb)

Stages: 2 or 3

This digital Flight Control System allows for greater precision and launch target accuracy.

The Soyuz 2.1b also sports an uprated Blok-I second stage engine, the RD-0124, which provides increased performance.

It was the second of three Soyuz 2 variants to fly, taking its first launch on December 27th, 2006.

The Soyuz 2.1b variant flies under two different national flags and has two different names for the same configuration.

When launching from Baikonur or Plesetsk, the rocket flies as part of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. For these missions, it is known as the Soyuz 2.1b.

When sold to Arianespace, the European Space Agency's launch management company, the rocket sports a few European modifications, like a European payload adapter and a European flight termination system.

When it flies for Europe, the rocket is known as the Soyuz ST-B.

Image: ESA

The Plesetsk Cosmodrome is located 800 km north of Moscow, Russian Federation.

The site was founded in 1957 to support Union of Soviet Socialist Republic ICBM launches of the R7 missile - from which the Soyuz rockets today are derived.

Plesetsk was not as busy as Baikonur in terms of satellite launches from its founding in 1957 to 2000 due to its location and ability to only launch crafts to Molniya and polar orbits. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the Baikonur Cosmodrome becoming foreign territory for Russia, Plesetsk has been far more active since the 2000s.

It is primarily used for military and commercial launches to high inclination and polar orbits.

It has been the site of three fatal ground accidents that have killed 58 people. In 1973, a Cosmos-3M rocket exploded on the launch pad killing 9; in 1980, a Vostok-2M rocket exploded during fueling, killing 48; in 2002, a Soyuz-U rocket exploded killing 1 person.

Image: Roscosmos