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US President Barack Obama has signed a bill hindering the construction of GLONASS stations on the US territory. The document rules that the matter requires the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence to report the case to Congress first. Under the Republican-proposed bill, the Pentagon and CIA chiefs are to provide assurances that GLONASS stations will not be used for spying against the US or for improving the efficiency of Russian weapons, the New York Times says. The signing was preceded by protracted debates between various US agencies and departments. The bill reflects their authors’ suspicions towards...

ГЛОНАСС (GLONASS) Russian GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), is a space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. It is the Russian version of America’s military GPS and is currently the only alternative navigational system in operation capable of global coverage. GLONASS first become operational in 1982 and achieved global coverage in 2011. During the first reign of Vladimir Putin, GLONASS became the first priority of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming nearly one third of the Agency budget. It was, after all, imperative to duplicate the accuracy of America’s GPS system. State Department In 2013,...

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MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Russia successfully launched a navigation satellite on Monday that will complete a global system to rival the U.S. GPS (Global Positioning System) and give a much-needed boost to the beleaguered Russian space programme. The early morning launch from Russia's northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome was the first Soyuz rocket launch since a Russian unmanned cargo flight to the International Space Station (ISS) fell back to Earth in burning pieces in a failed August launch. Russia is struggling to return confidence in its commercial launch capacity as a partner in the orbital space station after a series of...

Russian satellites fail to enter orbit after launch Three Russian satellites have failed to enter orbit after they were launched on a rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian aerospace experts said the satellites and the upper stage rocket carrying them probably fell into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. Officials said the satellites went off course after separating with a booster rocket from the main launch rocket.

Mexico City - Mexico plans to begin construction this year on a space port to send satellites aloft, an official said Monday. The facility will be located in the southern state of Quintana Roo on the border with Belize, said state planning minister Jose Alberto Alonso Ovando. The location was chosen after extensive studies in part because of its proximity to the Equator, he said in an interview. Late last year, the Mexican National Congress approved the founding of a national space agency, Aexa. The agency's headquarters will be located in the state of Hidalgo from where it will oversee...

A Russian Proton-M rocket was launched into space Thursday with three new satellites for Moscow's GLONASS navigation system, aimed at competing with US and European systems, a report said.

Can Russian GPS system track my dog? Putin asks Mon Dec 24, 9:18 AM ET President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was keen to use Russia's planned global positioning system GLONASS to look after his black Labrador Koni. "When can I buy hardware to equip my dog with so that she won't run away too far?" Putin was quoted as asking First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov during a briefing on progress towards developing a competitor to the U.S. GPS system. Russia is working to expand GLONASS, a system which locates objects on the ground using orbital satellites, and...

GIOVE A, the first Galileo satellite, departed from ESA’s test facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands on the morning of 29 November, bound for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft, packed in its transport container and accompanied by its support equipment, was taken by road from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, where it was loaded onto an Antonov transport plane. GIOVE-A was flown first to Moscow and, after customs formalities had been completed, made the second leg of its air journey to Baikonur, arriving in the...

MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) will be fully operational in 2007, the head of the Russian Space Agency said Tuesday at a meeting with the Russian president. Anatoly Perminov said the president had given orders to restore GLONASS by 2007 while visiting the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan last summer. "The system will be operational by that time," Perminov said, adding that the agency was successfully implementing the federal GLONASS program. Under the federal space program approved by the government, the GLONASS grouping will be increased to the minimal level of 18...

WASHINGTON, December 15 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - Russia and the United States have signed a joint statement that said that both sides intend to cooperate on matters of civil satellite-based navigation. The statement, which was issued on Tuesday in Washington by the US State Department, said, "Delegations of the United States and the Russian Federation met in Washington D.C. on December 9-10, 2004, to continue discussions on matters relating to GPS and Glonass cooperation. "Both sides reiterated their commitment to continuing these talks and reaffirmed that the United States and the Russian Federation intend to continue to provide the...