After postponing a planned late-September launch of three new GLONASS-M satellites from the Baikonur space center, the Russian space agency Roscosmos set a new launch date of October 29. The launch was originally set for September 25 from the Bikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

Roscosmos’s head, Anatoly Perminov, earlier reiterated that all six satellites required to complete the GLONASS satellite grouping would be launched by the end of 2009.

The 18 satellites the system requires for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of the Russian Federation are now in orbit. The six set to go up in two launches this year would bring numbers up to the 24 needed to provide services worldwide. The other three are reportedly set for a December 4 launch, also from the Baikonur space center.

A total of 9.9 billion rubles ($360 million at the current exchange rate) was allocated for GLONASS from the federal budget in 2007, and 4.7 billion rubles ($170 million) in 2006. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order on September 12, 2008, providing an additional $2.6 billion to develop the system.

Sources: RIA-Novosti, Roscosmos.