Two news about GLONASS: one is good, the other is bad

The good news is this: all three satellites, which launched into space on December 14, 2009 (as we watched it in the videotapes) - all of them are now in the ranks, all of them are now working successfully. The last (the third of them) was entered into the system on January 30, as evidenced by the site of the IAC KVNO TSNIIMash.

The bad news is this: although there are now eighteen spacecraft in the system, the availability of its navigation signal (that is, the proportion of the total time of day during which navigation with the desired accuracy is possible) has now actually become lower than January 19, when there were 17 of them .

_{The configuration of the satellites changed during this time not only due to the appearance of new satellites, but also due to the fact that some satellites rose for maintenance, and some finished it, and now two satellites are preparing to leave the system instead of one.}

Let's compare.

Here is the situation with the availability of January 19:

_{This is my own archival copy of the illustration. Now the blog recording of January 19 may also show the previous state of accessibility of navigation, and maybe its current state, because then I did not save the illustration from the IAC KVNO TsNIIMash website for the blog recording, but simply coralized its URL.}

As you can see, on January 19 in most parts of Russia, navigation was available from 95% to 99% of the day, that is, interruptions amounted to approximately one hour per day.
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But what is the situation now:

_{This is also an archive copy of the illustration in order to preserve the current state of the system for the future.}

As you can see, on February 2 in most parts of Russia navigation is available from 80% to 95% of the day, that is, interruptions are approximately from an hour to five hours a day.

Consequently, the GLONASS system is still not always enough to be only 75% full of satellites (18 out of 24 pieces) to cover the whole of Russia with its signal. Much depends not only on the number of satellites, but also on their distribution in orbital planes.

It is also good that this February another launch of three satellites will take place to supplement the GLONASS group. Indeed, without it, the prospects of the system would not look radiant. And so (four weeks after launch, judging by January ), the orbital group will continue to be replenished with spacecraft.

By the end of March, GLONASS will be able to start covering Russia with 100% accessibility.