Called the Glosnass project, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced only last week that it would be "a major step in Russia's efforts to modernize its economic base."
Fred Weir reports, "The new Glonass is intended to serve both military and civilian needs, and will compete with GPS as well as the planned Chinese Compass system and the European Union's future Galileo positioning system."
The loss of the satellites is estimated at $500 million, but a spokesperson for the Russian space agency says that the GPS system is on track and 95% complete regardless of the loss.
