India’s quest for a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system has ended. It will access the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), ending speculation that India was considering being a part of the network, formerly a military system, now open to civilian use.

India’s search for a GPS system had seen it engage in negotiations with the European project Galileo, but the deal had run into security concerns. Indian negotiators were not satisfied that the information accessible on the proposed system was adequately firewalled against individuals and possible military users. China is also part of Galileo.

Recent discussions with Russia had seen reports last week that India could be part of GLONASS. A decision has now been taken and India will be able to access the constellation of active satellites which transmit coded signals in two frequency bands.
[via indiatimes]

Russia has launched three satellites Monday, expanding its global navigation satellite system, Glonass. The three 3000-pound satellites were sent into orbit using a Proton rocket, according to a Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) spokesperson, quoted by Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.
Glonass, which is a Russian version of the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the U.S., is intended for both military and civilian purposes. The system can also be used in geological prospecting.
At present, Glonass has 11 operational spacecraft. The three will be added to this. Roscosmos plans to have 18 satellites in orbit by late 2007 or early 2008. The full compliment of 24 satellites will be reached by 2009, Perminov said.
[via earthtimes.org]

Russia is negotiating with other countries on the possible joint use of Russia’s global positioning satellite system Glonass, the head of the Russian Space Agency said Tuesday.Glonass, a Russian version of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), is designed for both military and civilian purposes, and allows users to identify their positions in real time. It can also be used in geological prospecting.

“We are in active talks with India, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries on the joint use of the Glonass space system,” Anatoly Perminov said.

“As far as other countries are concerned, we are primarily in talks with the United States and the European Space Agency to prepare agreements on the use of Glonass jointly with GPS and Galileo [satellite navigation systems],” Perimov said.

He said Glonass has been in an intensified stage of development since the president urged for active work on the system.

“The country’s leadership is paying particular attention to the development of the system,” Perminov said. “The Russian president personally set the task of not only actively developing it [the system], but also putting it into operation as soon as possible.”[full article]

GLONASS (kurz für Globales Navigations-Satelliten-System)
Der russische Generalstab hebt ab 01. Januar 2007 sämtliche Beschränkungen, die gegenwärtig für die Genauigkeit der Ortung von Objekten im Rahmen des nationalen Navigationssystems GLONASS gelten, auf.
Zuvor betrug die Abweichung bei der Bestimmung der exakten Koordinaten wegen der Einschränkungen bis zu 150 Meter. Jetzt wird die Abweichung um fünf Meter schwanken”, sagte der Stellvertreter der Abteilung für operative Leitung des Zivilschutzministeriums, Andrej Legoschin, in einem Interview gegenüber RIA Novosti.

Er sagte, dass die genaue Bestimmung eines Objektes bei schlechter Witterung oder unter komplizierten geographischen Bedingungen für die Rettung von Menschenleben entscheidend sein kann.

“Wir wollen niemanden bombardieren, doch es ist notwendig, die genaue Unfallstelle oder den Aufenthalt der Opfer zu kennen. Das ist sowohl für die Arbeit der Rettungsgruppen auf der Erde als auch für die Flugzeugleitung nötig”, sagte er.

Legoschin teilte mit, dass der russische Rettungsdienst schon seit einigen Jahren außer GLONASS das ähnliche amerikanische System GPS benutzt, bei dem diese Einschränkungen bereits früher abgeschafft wurden.