Russia launches final satellites for its own GPS

[Robbien]

Source: Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia successfully launched a rocket on Tuesday carrying the last three satellites to complete a navigation system to rival America's GPS.

The military-run GLONASS mapping system works over most of Russia and is expected to cover the globe by the end of 2009, once all its 24 navigational satellites are operating.

. . .

Work on GLONASS -- or Global Navigation Satellite System -- began in the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s to give its armed forces exact bearings around the world.

The collapse of the Russian economy in the late 1990s drained funds and the plans withered, but President Vladimir Putin has ensured the project is now being lavishly funded from a brimming government budget.

Officials said GLONASS would mainly be used alongside the U.S. global positioning system, which Washington can switch off for civilian subscribers, as it did during recent military operations in Iraq.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2510281920071225

[laconicsax]

1. GLONASS?

GLONASS?




GLONASS?


So how long before we go to war with Russia over this?

[kentauros]

5. If we go to war over it...

does that mean we need to re-pronounce GLONASS as "GLO-N-ASS"? ;)

[laconicsax]

7. I just read it

GLON-ASS, which makes me wonder what a glon is.

[default_to_freedom]

2. Well, if this is anything like previous Soviet engineering, the Russian army

will be making quite a few wrong turns.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Indeed. That's why the USA got the first artificial satellite in orbit...

..and also were the first to land a device on Venus.

Oh, wait...

[laconicsax]

6. We had many other firsts!

Here's a link. There are some 32 accomplishments that we beat the Soviets to, partly due to their shoddy engineering.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. How could I have remembered the Sputnik and Venera and forgot Gagarin?

"The Earth is blue."

Most unintentionally poetic sentence of all time.

[TheWraith]

13. N1 lunar rocket. NT

[TheLastMohican]

10. I've got news for you

These are the russian engineers of the pension age who are trying to assemble a "Sputnik" from spare parts of faulty soviet sattelites and broken chinese radio-controlled toys.....NOT /sarcasm intended



Never underestimate russian engineering. They have done their fair share of great inventions.


And this is the GLONASS satellites themselves.

[Flanker]

11. I assume any left turn is to you a wrong turn

nm

[PFunk]

3. Great

With Russia now joining both the US and EEC their are now 3 independent GPS systems operational now. And I know China will soon join the club.

My how Bushco have screwed up things >:(

[oldhippie]

12. Three systems?

GPS, GLONASS are operational. EU's Galileo is far from operational, and won't be for many years.

How did Bushco screw this one up?

[TheLastMohican]

9. Smart move

Relying on GPS which can't be turned off any time is not the way to go for a technological giant like Russia.

[TheWraith]

14. Enh?

“Relying on GPS which can't be turned off any time is not the way to go for a technological giant like Russia.”

I assume you mean it CAN be turned off any time, but that’s not really true. The Global Positioning System has FAR too many critical applications these days for it to be possible to deactivate it without causing disaster. They’ve even given up on the idea of “Selective availability,” the “fuzz” that they used to introduce to the civilian GPS signal to reduce its accuracy.