Glonass/GPS equipment being tested onboard Progress cargo spacecraft
KOROLYOV, Moscow region. Oct 31 (Interfax-AVN) - Onboard equipment of the ASN autonomous navigation system operating with the use of Glonass and GPS navigation systems is undergoing flight tests on the Progress M-25M resupply cargo spacecraft, which delivered cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 29, the Energia rocket and space corporation told Interfax-AVN.
"ASN onboard equipment installed on the spacecraft has been designed and manufactured by Energia. It ensures high-precision autonomous determination of the spacecraft's state, i.e. its coordinates and speeds, at a given point in time," an Energia spokesperson said.
Navigation with the use of this system is ensured "autonomously onboard a spacecraft with higher precision and in a significantly shorter period of time compared to the equipment used earlier," he said.
"In addition, this equipment combined with the ASN equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS ensures high-precision determination of the movement parameters of the spacecraft's center of mass in regard to the station, which is necessary for the spacecraft's approach and docking with the ISS," he said.
The ASN autonomous navigation system is also capable of determining a spacecraft's angular position in space, he said.
"After flight tests onboard Progress M-M spacecraft, this equipment will be used as standard onboard new Progress MS cargo spacecraft and Soyuz MS manned spacecraft and later on new generation transport spacecraft," he said.
It was reported earlier that a Progress-M-25M designed and manufactured by Energia successfully docked with the ISS on October 29 six hours after being launched from the Baikonur space center. The spacecraft delivered 2.5 tonnes of cargo to the ISS, including fuel, water, oxygen, and food products, which is particularly important after the U.S. cargo spacecraft Cygnus carrying two tonnes of cargo and equipment for the U.S. segment of the ISS had been lost in a crash.
