Russia manufactures Glonass navigation satellites with 50% domestic parts

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The Reshetnev Satellite Information Systems (ISS-Reshetnev) company, which is part of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, began to manufacture Glonass-K2 navigation satellites with 50% domestic parts.

The ISS-Reshetnev company undertook the manufacture of another two Glonass-K2 spacecraft that will include a greater number of national parts, wrote the Sibirski Sputnik newspaper edited by the company.

The media highlights that four Glonass-K2 satellites are currently in different manufacturing phases. As previously reported, the first two Glonass-K2 satellites will be launched in November-December 2021 and April 2022, respectively.

Russki Kosmos magazine, edited by Roscosmos, published that the electronic components carried by these satellites will be 58% national. That figure will increase in subsequent Glonass-K2s and will reach 100% from 2026.

The new generation Glonass-K and Glonass-K2 satellites outperform those of the previous generation both in the number of navigation signals emitted - a Glonass-K2 emits nine signals compared to five for the Glonass-M - and in the period useful life.

The constellation of the Russian satellites Glonass currently has 27 aircraft (24 Glonass-M and three Glonass-K), of which 23 are operating according to their functional designation, two are undergoing tests, one is in orbital reserve and one more is in maintenance.

To cover the entire surface of the Earth with Glonass signals, 24 operational satellites are needed.

Created in times of the Soviet Union and launched in 1993, the Glonass system, analogous to the American GPS, determines in real-time with great accuracy the location coordinates and the movement parameters (speed and height) of objects that are in air, land, or sea.

Like other similar systems, the Glonass can be used for natural disaster observation, facilitating rescue operations, and has commercial applications such as road safety, toll collection, and others.