New Antarctic GLONASS antenna and state of the art navigation system

On Monday (the day before yesterday), the head of Rosgidromet (Alexander Frolov) announced to journalists that in February (about a month ago) a special antenna was installed at Novolazarevskaya station (in Antarctica, which is in the photo on the right); Russian navigation system GLONASS and increase its accuracy. He also explained that not all satellites are visible from the territory of Russia, and this antenna will allow to monitor those spacecraft that are visible only in the western hemisphere.

RIA Novosti, having published the words of Frolov , also adds that in 2010 the orbital grouping of the GLONASS system is planned to be brought up to its full strength (24 satellites), and also to create the necessary reserve of spacecraft.

Take a look at the official information on the composition of the grouping (in case of habraeffekt, a copy of the information in the Coral CDN or peeep-slapok will fit ). You will see immediately that the planned actions are being carried out: on the third orbital plane, two satellites are sent to the orbital reserve of spacecraft, their place remains briefly vacant. New satellites, three of them launched from Baikonur in early March , are also intended to take their places on this plane; thus, in a few weeks the third GLONASS plane will not only be filled with satellites to the top, but also provided with the necessary reserve of vehicles.
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But right now, on the third plane, there are three workers in a row missing: the former have been taken to the reserve, and the new ones have not yet been put into operation. This shortage leads to the fact that in most parts of the world the GLONASS navigation signal is available no more than 80% -90% of the time during the day.

Here is how it looks on a geographic map:


Nice to know that it will not last too long.