Service life of GLONASS satellites will be increased from 7 to 10 years; the constellation includes 23 spacecraft on duty (and two more ones are being tested), Vzglyad reports with reference to Vice Premier of Russian Federation, Dmitry Rogozin.

«Russia is going to open four GLONASS stations in foreign countries in addition to five ones, which are already in operation,» Rogozin said.

According to him, service life of GLONASS satellites will be increased from 7 to 10 years in the near-term. He added that the constellation includes 23 spacecraft on duty and two more ones are being tested at the moment.

The Vice Premier said that Russia is going to create a renewed Earth Remote Sensing system and also renew the GLONASS constellation by 2020.

It was reported earlier that Glonass-M spacecraft, which should be launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome in December, should replace a spacecraft, which has been working at the orbit for 1,5 periods equal to its service life. 

According to the website of Federal Space Agency Information-Analytical Center, only one satellite has been put out of GLONASS system so far: spacecraft No.714 manufactured in 2005. It has been working in the orbit for 118 months. The satellite was put out of the system on October 17th.