Russian Proton-M set for night launch today

Russia will launch a cluster of satellites into space in a few hours as it expands the navigational network and replaces several aging spacecraft.

A Proton-M rocket is to carry three GLONASS-M navigational satellites into orbit tonight at 4:19 pm EST (2119 GMT) or 00:20 Moscow time from launch pad 81 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

What America call the Global Positioning system or GPS, mulitple countries including Russia call their satellite constellation for navigation the Global Navigation Satellite System or GLONASS.

The first GLONASS satellites were launched in October 1982, and currently have 22 in orbit -- nineteen of which are operational.

Where the GPS orbits at an inclination of 55 degrees to the earth's equator, each of the GLONASS satellites orbit at an inclination of 64.8 degrees. The higher the number the larger the area of the eastern hemisphere is covered by the system. Each orbit is just over 11 hours long.

Each GLONASS spacecraft travels in a 11,893 mile high circular orbit. Each GPS satellite orbits

The GLONASS satellites provide realtime location data as well as the velocity of an object.

GLONASS Constellation Status as of today, March 1, 2010:


|GLONASS|Cosmos|Plane/|Frequ.|   Launch   |   Intro    |  Status   |
|number |number| slot |chann.|    date    |    date    |

|  730  | 2456 | 1/01 |  01  | 14.12.2009 | 30.01.2010 | operating |
|  728  | 2448 | 1/02 |  -4  | 25.12.2008 | 20.01.2009 | operating |
|  727  | 2447 | 1/03 |  05  | 25.12.2008 | 17.01.2009 | operating |
|  733  | 2457 | 1/04 |  06  | 14.12.2009 | 24.01.2010 | operating |
|  734  | 2458 | 1/05 |  01  | 14.12.2009 | 10.01.2010 | operating |
|  712  | 2413 | 1/07 |  05  | 26.12.2004 | 22.12.2005 | operating |
|  729  | 2449 | 1/08 |  06  | 25.12.2008 | 12.02.2009 | operating |
|  722  | 2435 | 2/09 |  -2  | 25.12.2007 | 25.01.2008 | operating |
|  717  | 2426 | 2/10 |  -7  | 25.12.2006 | 03.04.2007 | operating |
|  723  | 2436 | 2/11 |  00  | 25.12.2007 | 22.01.2008 | operating |
|  721  | 2434 | 2/13 |  -2  | 25.12.2007 | 08.02.2008 | operating |
|  715  | 2424 | 2/14 |  -7  | 25.12.2006 | 03.04.2007 |  unusable |
|  716  | 2425 | 2/15 |  00  | 25.12.2006 | 12.10.2007 | operating |
|  718  | 2431 | 3/17 |  04  | 26.10.2007 | 04.12.2007 | operating |
|  724  | 2442 | 3/18 |  -3  | 25.09.2008 | 26.10.2008 | operating |
|  720  | 2433 | 3/19 |  03  | 26.10.2007 | 25.11.2007 | operating |
|  719  | 2432 | 3/20 |  02  | 26.10.2007 | 27.11.2007 | operating |
|  725  | 2443 | 3/21 |  04  | 25.09.2008 | 05.11.2008 | operating |
|  726  | 2444 | 3/22 |  -3  | 25.09.2008 | 13.11.2008 |  unusable |
|  714  | 2419 | 3/23 |  03  | 25.12.2005 | 31.08.2006 | operating |
 
Note: All the dates (DD.MM.YY) are given at Moscow Time (UTC+0300)