Russia postpones launch of navigation satellite

The satellite atop a Soyuz-2.1.b carrier rocket was to blast off from the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia Dec 28.

"Preparations have not been completed for the ground complex to navigate the Glonass-K spacecraft," a statement from the ministry said Tuesday.Glonass is Russia's answer to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and is designed for both military and civilian uses.
The Glonass-K, which has a service life of 10 years, will beam five navigation signals -- four in the special L1 and L2 bands and one for civilian applications in the L3 band.

A Proton-M carrier rocket with three Glonass-M satellites veered off course and sank in the Pacific Ocean Dec 5. The failure was attributed to a series of manufacturing mistakes.
The satellites were supposed to finalise the creation of Russia's Glonass Global Navigation Satellite System.Russia currently has a total of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit, although only 20 of them are functional.