Soyuz rocket launches Glonass-M navigation satellite for Russian military

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 A Soyuz rocket launched a new navigation satellite into orbit for Russia's military forces on Monday (March 16) in a dazzling nighttime liftoff from a snowy launchpad. 

The Soyuz 2.1b rocket launched the Glonass-M navigation satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 9:28 p.m. Moscow time (2:28 p.m. EDT/1828 GMT). The Soyuz's Fregat upper stage then delivered the satellite to its final orbit.

"On March 16, 2020, at 18:28 UTC a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket equipped with a Fregat booster manufactured by NPO Lavochkin (part of Roscosmos) launched successfully from Plesetsk cosmodrome carrying a Glonass-M navigational satellite manufactured by ISS Reshetnev company," Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced in a statement. "The satellite separated routinely from the booster after three Fregat booster service propulsion unit burns."

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A Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket launches a Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit for the country's Ministry of Defence from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on March 16, 2020.

A Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket launches a Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit for the country's Ministry of Defence from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on March 16, 2020. (Image credit: Roscosmos/Russian Ministry of Defenc)

Russia's Glonass-M satellites make up a constellation of space-based navigation craft for the country's Glonass system orbital group. 

"They transmit navigational information and time data to the ground, maritime, air and space customers," Roscosmos officials said in a statement. 

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.