GLONASS will be made as accurate as the GPS navigation system.

The President of the Russian Federation instructed Roskomos to make the GLONASS navigation satellite system as accurate as the American GPS. In order to achieve this result, the network operator will have to reduce the error in determining the coordinates three times. And for this, a new generation of Glonass-K2 spacecraft (SC) must be launched into orbit. These systems are able to take into account the interference that occurs when a signal passes through the upper atmosphere.

The order for GLONASS designers, President Vladimir Putin was given in September 2017, at a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation. All this time, the designers have been working on the creation of a new generation of spacecraft. The first of them will be Glonass-K2, which is being developed at the ISS. This satellite will be equipped with electronic filling, which did not fall under the sanctions of Europe or the United States. True, the protection of the draft design of the device is delayed. It was supposed to take place last fall; instead, the satellite will be protected only this year.

“The program to improve the accuracy of the spacecraft is a new assignment from Roscosmos,” said the ISS Director General Nikolay Testoedov.
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Now the orbital grouping of the Glonass navigation system consists of 25 satellites. When passing through the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere, the navigation signal is distorted, and the resulting error is not taken into account in the signal itself. It is not adjusted and receiving equipment. True, GLONASS ground stations "are able" to make the appropriate amendments.

New satellites are able to take into account the distortion, and the correction will be built into the signal itself. As a result, users will be able to obtain more accurate data about their location. And this will allow to increase the positioning accuracy with the help of GLONASS three times, and only the “pure” satellite signal will be used for correction.

Experts believe that accounting for the ionospheric correction makes the GPS navigation system the most accurate in the world. Moreover, the satellites themselves, which form this system, are either the same in quality and functionality, or worse than those of GLONASS.

“The instability of the earth's ionosphere introduces one of the most significant errors in the determination of coordinates. Radio waves re-reflection causes a signal delay. To solve this problem, amendments are intended to take into account changes in the ionosphere under the influence of solar flares, stellar wind, magnetic storms and other factors. Using these data, the Glonass-K2 spacecraft with a new time standard and a new type of signals will be able to compete with their western counterparts in navigation accuracy, ”says independent expert in the field of navigation technology Andrey Lysenko.

The launch of the first Glonass-K2 satellite will take place no earlier than 2020–2021. Initially, it will undergo flight tests, which will last six months or a year, and then the second device will be put into orbit. In addition to satellites with electronics, which did not fall under the sanctions, there are two more Glonass-K2 in production, which have in their composition an imported electronic component base. The stuffing was bought for them even before the ban on supplies of Western electronics of the Space and Military categories to Russia. In other words, it is completely resistant to radiation and other external factors. Completely modernize the system by the 2030s.

GLONASS - Russian satellite navigation system. Its basis is 24 satellites that move over the Earth’s surface at once in three orbital planes with an inclination of each orbital plane of 64.8 °. The height of the orbits is 19,400 km. The difference from the American system is that GLONASS satellites in orbital motion do not have a resonance with the rotation of the Earth. This, in turn, provides them with greater stability. The GLONASS spacecraft grouping does not require any additional adjustments during the whole period of active existence.

Roskosmos, Information Space Systems JSC named after Academician MF Reshetnev and Russian Space Systems JSC are engaged in the development of the GLONASS project.