This may include ads from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The first stage of this terrifying collaboration was announced earlier this year when state media shed light on a deal between China and Russia's state-owned Roscosmos space agency. According to the deal, Roscosmos will install a satellite ground-monitoring station in Shanghai, with China installing parallel stations in Russia. The announcement took the world by surprise as it marked the first time a foreign power allowed a foreign power to build tracking stations within their borders.
Additional tracking stations are planned to be built in Brazil, Indonesia, India and Angola. Russia's TASS Press Agency quoted Roscmos saying that all contracts for deployment and operation of the equipment were signed with Brazil back in 2020. All permissions to take the equipment out of Russia were obtained. According to the original reports, Precision Instrument-Making Systems are used in tracking stations to improve the accuracy of Russia's GLONASS satellite network. READ MORE: UK poised to beat Putin as Qatar offers gas to the world's largest economy.
GLONASS is Russia's answer to the American Global Positioning System or GPS - a network of satellites that provide real-time positioning and navigation data for public and military use. The decision to build a tracking station in China has been interpreted as a move to strengthen cooperation between the two nations. Russia has worked more closely with its allies in the past, despite being the world's first space power. According to a report in The Diplomat, China and Russia have been looking to integrate their satellite systems since at least 2014. Experts said last year that Russia's drive to engage more with the East has been fueled by deteriorating relations with the West.
A report published in the 21st issue of the China Brief Volume: 20 last claimed that the Russian government removed many restrictions and expanded space collaboration with China. In 2016 President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing, where he signed a bilateral agreement on intellectual property protection in space technologies. Russia and China have been linked to their satellite-based terrestrial navigation systems, the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS and the Beidou Big Dipper Global Satellite Navigation System, according to the report. Satellites are used to support civilian and national security functions such as international navigation and communications, as well as specific military applications such as precision conventional strikes. How China is planning to block US army base signals INSIGHT Covid row explodes as US disputes China's first case claim LATEST China s terrifying Armageddon war warning to US and Australia REPORT Russia's GLONASS consists of about two dozen satellites and was first developed during the Soviet era. As many of the satellites have gone past their sell-by date, maintaining the satellite network has become an issue for Moscow. The country will strengthen its infrastructure and help restore some of the country's grip over the space sector, according to Emily Young Carr, who worked with China. Besides the US, China and Russia are the only space powers to have launched crewed missions into space.