Russia expands its global navigation system

Russia launched another three satellites of the GLONASS global navigation system on Thursday.

18  satellites  are needed for detecting the one's exact position at any point on the territory of Russia and 24 anywhere in the world. Now, the GLOANSS orbital grouping has 26 satellites, and needs more as some will be in reserve.

GLONASS designers say  the system will be up to par with  American GPS when it reaches projected capacity.

Still, Russian and American engineers talk partnership, not competition, as cooperation develops the market and contributes to  higher product quality.

Expert from the GLONASS Design Service Alexander Zubakhin says.

Currently the world has only two operating global navigation systems- Russian GLONASS and American Global Positioning System (GPS). 

Our consumers don't care about the types of satellites sending the signals, they need the service. And it gets better with more satellites. Thus, we are developing our partnership.

GLONASS will be fully deployed this October when the Proton-M launcher carries the last three satellites to the orbit. Then the system will cover  the whole world.