OREANDA-NEWS. December 20, 2011. The Glonass-M №44 satellite manufactured by M.F. Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems has been put into operation to serve the GLONASS orbital fleet.

Glonass-M №44 is the 24th operational satellite in the GLONASS orbital navigation constellation. It has brought the Russian fleet to its full operational status, thus, making the GLONASS system available to all users worldwide.

Glonass-M №44 was launched into orbit with two other ISS-Reshetnev-made navigation satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome on November 4, 2011.

At present the orbital navigation system GLONASS comprises 31 satellites manufactured by ISS-Reshetnev. Three satellites are currently in the process of commissioning, one satellite is spare and two are in maintenance. The next-generation Glonass-K spacecraft launched earlier this year is undergoing flight tests.