Russian Information and News Agency Novosti is reporting that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has announced in a report to Vladimir Putin that the GLONASS GPS system may be complete by 2009, far ahead of the initial schedule of 2012. Apparently Ivanov has determined that the program can be accelerated without any significant increase to cost. Ivanov states that benefits are geared toward civilian use, as opposed to military purposes. He states that by 2007, the GLONASS constellation could be fully servicing Russia, and by 2009 be fully servicing a global community. Perhaps some of these gains come through their partnership with India on space projects.
I wonder, yet again, how all this affects the aspirations of Galileo.
I have been tracking the unfolding GLONASS and Galileo saga (or perhaps slugfest?):
- GLONASS Status
- And yet more navigational satellites announced...
- Galileo Hype?
- Galileo / GIOVE-A
- Russian Christmas (GLONASS)
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geo, geodesy, geodetic, Geospatial, glonass, gps, location-based, locative, map, mapping, maps, mobile, navigation, news, putin, russia, space, surveying
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