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COSMOS 2475 (743)

Russian Navigation Satellite (GLONASS-M) · Russian Aerospace Forces

Cosmos 2475, launched in 2011, is a GLONASS-M satellite contributing to Russia's fully restored global navigation constellation. GLONASS remains the only satellite navigation system besides GPS to have achieved and sustained full global coverage independently, a status that took Russia through a genuine near-death experience for the entire program in the 1990s before Putin-era investment brought it fully back. Modern dual-system receivers combining GPS and GLONASS signals can achieve faster position locks and better accuracy in difficult environments like dense forests or urban canyons than either system alone could provide — a practical benefit of GLONASS's full recovery that most users never consciously notice.