Russia to Complete Cold War Era GPS Style Satellite Positioning System
Russia may start getting into the global positioning system business.
As it turns out, Russians have been pretty satellite savvy for years. While the United States was heading for the moon, the former U.S.S.R. was launching global positioning satellites similar to the ones the Western World has been using for GPS readings for years.
When the Soviet Union dissolved, those very same satellite networks sat ignored and unfinished.
Enter Russian President Vladmir Putin. Say what you want, this guy is leaving no stone unturned to increase technology business and development in his country. The newly reinstated system called GLONASS can now theoretically provide accurate satellite based positioning information for the entire Russian Territory. Do you have any idea how big Russia is? The best part is, the first consumer devices that utilize the satellite array should be available next year. By 2010 Russia plans to open the system up to outside nations.
With the United States based GPS, GLONASS, and the soon to be a reality European satellite positioning system (I’ll bet they wish they’d almost finished theirs two decades ago) consumers in the near future could theoretically benefit from a three-system set of information. President Putin joked that he was keen on the project because his treasured Black Labrador named Koni was always wandering off, and he’d like a more sophisticated way of tracking her down. But seriously, this newfound interest in knowing where we all are on the planet is long overdue.
Great. . .Just what we need. . .More government ability to track and watch our every movement. . .I guess its inevitable though. . .By the time we hear of new technologies, our governements and our Militaries have been using it to watch & listen to use for decades!