Russia launched its Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the GLONASS-K navigation system from a northern cosmodrome on Monday, according to Interfax, citing the defence ministry.
“Combat crews of the Space Forces …. successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class launch vehicle with space navigation GLONASS-K system,” the agency cited the ministry as saying.
The GLONASS-K satellite was launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Moscow.
GLONASS-K is a navigation satellite designed to be a component of Russia’s GLONASS radio-based satellite navigation system. Russia has spent billions of dollars over the last two decades developing the GLONASS system, which is seen as a potential competitor to the United States’ global positioning system (GPS).