The next launch of Russian Glonass navigation satellite is scheduled for June 14 from Plesetsk spaceport (Arkhangelsk Oblast), Deputy Head of Roskosmos Anatoly Shilov announced on Wednesday speaking at the International Satellite Navigation Forum in Moscow.

      "At present, GLONASS orbital constellation includes 28 satellites: 24 are in normal operation mode and 4 are in orbital reserve," he said. He also said that launching of second Glonass-K satellite is scheduled for this year. In the meantime, the first satellite in this series, which is now in orbit, is undergoing flight tests. 

      GLONASS - acronym for "Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema" or "Global Navigation Satellite System", is a space-based satellite navigation system operated by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. It provides an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS) and is the only alternative navigational system in operation with global coverage and of comparable precision. Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976. Beginning on 12 October 1982, numerous rocket launches added satellites to the system until the constellation was completed in 1995. During the 2000s, under Vladimir Putin's presidency, the restoration of the system was made a top government priority and funding was substantially increased. GLONASS is the most expensive program of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming a third of its budget in 2010. By 2010, GLONASS had achieved 100% coverage of Russia's territory and in October 2011, the full orbital constellation of 24 satellites was restored, enabling full global coverage. The GLONASS satellites' designs have undergone several upgrades, with the latest version being GLONASS-K.

      How GLONASS improves positioning. It’s simple math – by supporting both systems in a receiver, the number of available global satellites increases from 31 to 55. Therefore, more geographic locations are able to receive four or more signals from satellites, which in turn means more successful position calculations and also better accuracy of the calculated positions in challenging environments. Field tests in downtown San Francisco found that the positioning accuracy of adding GLONASS improved as much as 50%. The test were executed with the help of Qualcomm using two Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™ smartphones, and 600 measurements were recorded and analyzed per device. The GLONASS enhancement is transparent and backwards compatible with the existing applications but there are ways to see the benefit of the GLONASS satellites. One way is to download and install the free GPS Test application by Chartcross Ltd. from Android Market. The satellites numbered 65 to 88 are GLONASS satellites that are being tracked. According to Russian System of Differentional Correction and Monitoring's data, as of 2010, precisions of GLONASS navigation definitions (for p=0.95) for latitude and longitude were 4.46—7.38 m with mean number of navigation space vehicles (NSV) equals 7—8 (depending on station). In comparison, the same time precisions of GPS navigation definitions were 2.00—8.76 m with mean number of NSV equals 6—11 (depending on station).[citation needed] Civilian GLONASS used alone is therefore very slightly less accurate than GPS. On high latitudes (north or south), GLONASS' accuracy is better than that of GPS due to the orbital position of the satellites.