GPS World

Tag: sanctions

  • Next-generation GLONASS-K2 won’t launch until 2017 at earliest

    The test flight of the first GLONASS-K2 satellite — a new generation GLONASS satellite with a design life of 10 years — is expected to take place from late 2017 to early 2018, RIA Novosti reports. The Russian news agency quoted Nikolai Testoyedov, CEO of Information Satellite Systems—Reshetnev, speaking at the 2015 Dubai Air Show.

    According to Testoyedov, the GLONASS-K2 satellites had difficulty being equipped following international sanctions imposed on a number of electronic components. The first unit of the series has been built, he said.

    Nine GLONASS-M satellites are currently in reserve, and another nine GLONASS-K1 satellites are in production, Testoyedov said. Mass production of GLONASS-K2 satellites is expected to take place following the test, so that by the end of 2018 GLONASS-K2 satellites would be subsequently mass produced, while maintaining the regular structure of the orbital group.

    With a GLONASS-M lifetime of seven years, and GLONASS K-1 and GLONASS-K2 of 10 years, the GLONASS system will be updated through 2028-2030, concluded Testoyedov.

  • GLONASS Satellites Will Be ‘Made in Russia’ Only

    JSC “Russian Space Systems” (RCC), together with ISS Reshetnev, plan to remove imported components in construction of GLONASS satellites, according to an Izvestia article.

    Production of the advanced GLONASS satellite “GLONASS-K” is scheduled to begin later this year.

    According JSC CEO Andrew Tyulina, the company intends to stop the use of foreign electronic components as soon as possible. The plan is to have 80 percent of the satellites’ electronic components payload be domestically produced by 2019.

    The move seems to be spurred by international sanctions in response to Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. Following the occupation, the United States began to prohibit supply of electronic components to Russia, and the British company E2V failed to get permission to import equipment for the Russian space observatory Spektr-UV, Izvestia reports. Russia had difficulty securing components before then, however. In 2013, as relations with the U.S. cooled following Russia’s harboring of Edward Snowden and events in Syria, the U.S. State Department did not authorize a supply of components for the spacecraft Geo-IK-2. 

    The expected component supplier will be the largest designer and manufacturer of electronic components in Russia, Roselectronika, an entity that unites 112 companies, research institutes and design bureaus. The total investment in Roselectronika will exceed 210 billion rubles to 2020, including provision for modernizing industrial sites that produce electronic payloads for space.

  • Sanctions Delay Russia’s GLONASS-K2 Program

    Sanctions Delay Russia’s GLONASS-K2 Program

    The second GLONASS-K1 on its way to the launch pad.
    The second GLONASS-K1 rocket prior to launch.

    News courtesy of CANSPACE listserv.

    According to the GLONASS satellite manufacturer, the company will now produce nine GLONASS-K1 satellites rather than move to GLONASS-K2, because of the sanctions restricting the delivery of radiation-resistant electronic components from the West.

    Nikolai Testoyedov, CEO of Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev, told the Russian magazine Vestnik GLONASS, “For a smooth transition to a multi-functional group and due to issues with the very complex GLONASS-K2 satellites, we decided to continue with the GLONASS-K1 intermediate range of satellites, and we are preparing for the launch of nine units of this series.”

    He said the original plan was to launch two K1 satellites and then move to GLONASS-K2 satellites.

    “In the beginning, really, we wanted after the two GLONASS-K1 satellites No. 11 and 12, to go for the launch of more advanced GLONASS-K2 devices. But, unfortunately, the plans had to be adjusted somewhat because of the sanctions restricting the delivery of radiation-resistant electronic components from the West. We have to put a hold on the in-depth development of technical and technological documentation and that delays us in terms of moving ahead by at least a year or two,” he said.

    Russia launched its second GLONASS-K1 satellite on Nov. 30.