Data Analysis Center (DAC) of the Flight Control Center of the Central Engineering Research Institute announced that the number of the currently operating satellites of the Russian navigation system Glonass has increased up to 12.
"Out of 17 orbital-cluster satellites, 12 are used for the intended purpose, one is in the service entry stage, three are temporarily put out of operation for maintenance, and one satellite is being removed from the system", the DAC specified.
Over the past 24 hours, one of the satellites, which had been under maintenance, was reactivated and placed into the group of operating satellites.
The functioning of 12 satellites of the Glonass system makes it possible to provided users with navigation data on 60 percent of Russia’s territory.
Eighteen satellites are needed for Glonass to provide navigation data for users throughout the country’s territory, and 24 ones are essential to do so on a global scale. The latter group is to be deployed in 2009. This year, another six satellites are to be launched.
Source: Itar-Tass
