Russia to launch next-generation satellite

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM Russia plans to launch the next-generation Glonass-K2 satellite aboard a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport in the country's north or aboard an Angara rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East in 2022, Information Satellite Systems CEO Nikolai Testoyedov told TASS on Monday.

Information Satellite Systems is the producer of Glonass satellites, TASS reports.

Chief Designer of Russia's Glonass global satellite navigation system Sergei Karutin earlier said that the designing of the Glonass-K2 satellite had been completed.

"After the approval of the conceptual design, we will switch over to the stage of working out design documentation, after which we will create a prototype and start its experimental testing. The flight prototype is planned to be produced in 2022 and in that year it will be launched," Information Satellite Systems CEO Testoyedov said.

"We will be making this satellite with a possibility of its launch both from the Plesetsk aboard a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket and from the Vostochny with the help of an Angara launch vehicle," he said, adding that Information Satellite Systems would approve an addition to the satellite's conceptual design within a month while the development of design documentation would last two or three years.

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