Nov. 28

Russia sent one more navigation satellite to the Glonass cluster in space on Monday, the Russian Space Forces said.

According to spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle blasted off from the Plesetsk space center in Arkhangelsk region at 12:26 Moscow time (0826 GMT), and it would position the Glonass-M satellite in the designated orbit of about 20,000 km above the Earth.

The satellite would separate from the booster about three hours after the launch, he said.

Three Glonass-M satellites were launched on a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan earlier this month.

The Glonass cluster now consists of 30 satellites, including 23 operating, two under maintenance, two on standby and three being put into service.

Glonass, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), is designed for both military and civilian uses. The system requires 24 operational and two to three reserve satellites in orbit to ensure global coverage.