A new 13-meter radio telescope, which will soon be launched in the Leningrad region, will increase the accuracy of the Russian navigation system GLONASS, TASS reports with reference to the Institute's scientific director Alexander Ipatov.
"The telescope has been installed on a supporting structure by today, it has to be equipped with electronic equipment, and the receiver is put in. Inauguration is the first testing of the telescope, scheduled for autumn 2018." - Radio telescope, for the construction of which 600 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget , will increase the accuracy of the global navigation system GLONASS. "
The radio telescope is being built at the Svetly Observatory since April 17, 2017, it will be the third telescope of this class in the Kvazar system, the basic system of fundamental coordinate and temporary support in Russia. After commissioning, the new radio telescope will be synchronized with two already operating ones - in the Zelenchuk Observatory (Karachaevo-Cherkessia) and the Badary Observatory (Buryatia).
In total, in the "Quasar" system, which should be built into a single radio telescope, five telescopes operate in three observatories. Observatories are united by high-speed fiber-optic communication lines with the control center, data collection and processing in St. Petersburg. The system was designed in the late Soviet period and was supposed to use 12 observatories at once, nine of which were never launched.