In 1982, the USSR began testing a satellite positioning system that could compete with the American GPS: the Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema. The 24 satellites were launched three at a time using Proton satellites. The system functioned very similarly to GPS, with an accuracy of 10 meters for military use and 20 meters for civilian use. The constellation was completed on March 24, 1995. The encryption was simpler than GPS: it was quickly hacked by a professor from Leeds, UK. Since 2003, restrictions on the use of GPS by Russian civilians and industries have been lifted. The satellites last an average of only 3 years in orbit, and due to the lack of new launches, in 1998 only 16 satellites remained, and in 2001 only 6. Then Putin gave the order to restore the constellation and by 2006 there were 17 again. In total, about a hundred have been launched! They are produced by the NPO Polyot in Omsk. Since 2006, it has been opened to civilian use with an accuracy of 30m, and since 2007 with 1m. The GLONASS M (2001) and K (2007) have improved their service life to 7 years and then to 12.
