Russia Launches Single GLONASS Satellite

As reported by GPS World: A single GLONASS-M satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Saturday, June 14, at 17:16 UTC. The satellite, GLONASS-M 55 (with designation 755 once operational and also known as Kosmos 2500), was inserted into the GLONASS constellation’s Plane 3 and will occupy orbital slot 21, according to ISS Reshetnev, the manufacturer of the satellite.

Reshetnev also reported that the satellite is equipped with an experimental payload capable of transmitting signals in the L3 frequency band. The L3 signal, centered at 1202.025 MHz , is CDMA unlike the GLONASS legacy FDMA signals. The experiment will include flight testing of the new equipment and evaluation of its accuracy characteristics. The GLONASS-K1 test satellite also transmits an L3 signal.  

A video of the launch can be viewed on the Zvezda (meaning “Star”) TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.