Russia successfully launched a navigation satellite codenamed Cosmos 2545 as part of its Glonass navigation system at 1828 GMT on 16 March into Medium Earth Orbit on a Soyuz 2-1B/Fregat M launch vehicle. The launch took place from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. Cosmos 2545 is also known as Glonass M-60 and is expected to be placed into the second plane of the Glonass constellation, which like its GPS equivalent, is technically military but has widespread commercial applications.
Phil Hylands contributed to this story.
