Editing GLONASS (section)

=== Third generation ===
{{main|GLONASS-K|GLONASS-K2}}

GLONASS-K is a substantial improvement of the previous generation: it is the first unpressurised GLONASS satellite with a much reduced mass of {{cvt|750|kg}} versus the {{cvt|1450|kg}} of GLONASS-M. It has an operational lifetime of 10 years, compared to the 7-year lifetime of the second generation GLONASS-M. It will transmit more navigation signals to improve the system's accuracy — including new CDMA signals in the L3 and L5 bands, which will use modulation similar to modernized GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou. Glonass-K consist of 26 satellites having satellite index 65-98 and widely used in Russian Military space.<ref name="reshetnev_glonass_history"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BPW/is_10_21/ai_n56309362/?tag=content;col1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711083220/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BPW/is_10_21/ai_n56309362/?tag=content;col1|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-11|publisher=GPS World|first=Richard |last=Langley|title=GLONASS forecast bright and plentiful|year=2010}}</ref>

The new satellite's advanced equipment—made solely from Russian components — will allow the doubling of GLONASS' accuracy.<ref name="ato_glonass">{{cite journal|url=http://www.ato.ru/content/glonass-nearing-completion|title=Glonass nearing completion|journal=Russia & CIS Observer|last=Afanasyev|first=Igor|author2=Dmitri Vorontsov |date=2010-11-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130065842/http://www.ato.ru/content/glonass-nearing-completion|archive-date=30 November 2010}}</ref> As with the previous satellites, these are 3-axis stabilized, [[nadir]] pointing with dual solar arrays.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} The first GLONASS-K satellite was successfully launched on 26 February 2011.<ref name="reshetnev_glonass_history">{{cite web|url=http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/images/File/magazin/2007/m2-screen_en.pdf|title=Glonass-K: a prospective satellite of the GLONASS system|publisher=Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems|year=2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713063606/http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/images/File/magazin/2007/m2-screen_en.pdf|archive-date=13 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="bbc_russia_launches_satellite">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12587238|title=Russia launches satellite for global navigation system|work=BBC News|date=2011-02-26|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=30 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130234313/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12587238|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to their weight reduction, GLONASS-K spacecraft can be launched in pairs from the [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome]] launch site using the substantially lower cost [[Soyuz-2|Soyuz-2.1b]] boosters or in six-at-once from the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] using Proton-K Briz-M launch vehicles.<ref name="ato_glonass"/><ref name="federal_targeted_program_2002"/>