Venezuela, Cuba to jointly use Glonass satellites : Russia

Moscow, Sep 24 (UNI) Russia, Cuba and Venezuela are conducting talks on the joint use of Glonass navigation satellites, the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) Anatoly Perminov said here after his return from the visit of Latin American countries.

''I have just returned from a working visit to Cuba. They are very interested in cooperating with us in the use of the Glonass system, which will cover the globe by 2010,'' Mr Perminov told RIA Novosti.

He said Moscow and Havana were working on a space cooperation agreement and have considered ways of jointly using earth remote sensing satellites.

Mr Perminov said Russia would like to station several ground-based space communication facilities in Venezuela, stressing that they would have no military application.

Russia recently said it intended to share its space technology with Cuba, and has begun discussions on building a space centre in the country.

Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System (GPS), which is designed for both military and civilian use, and allows users to identify their positions in real time.

Russia plans to launch six satellites in the next three months to increase the existing Glonass grouping to 18-19 spacecraft.

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