Russia Successfully Launches Navigation Satellite

A general view of the Moscow International Business Center, Russia, May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
A general view of the Moscow International Business Center, Russia, May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
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Russia Successfully Launches Navigation Satellite

A general view of the Moscow International Business Center, Russia, May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
A general view of the Moscow International Business Center, Russia, May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Russia launched its Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the GLONASS-K navigation system on Monday from a northern cosmodrome, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the defense ministry.

"Combat crews of the Space Forces .... successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class launch vehicle with space navigation GLONASS-K system," the agency cited the ministry as saying.

The GLONASS-K satellite lifted off on the Soyuz rocket at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 800 km (500 miles) north of Moscow.

GLONASS-K is a navigation satellite intended as a part of the Russian GLONASS radio-based satellite navigation system, Reuters reported.

Russia has spent billions of dollars in the past two decades on developing the GLONASS system seen as a potential rival to the US global positioning system (GPS).



Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
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Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo

Greece will soon set up an evacuation port on the island of Santorini to facilitate the safe escape of people in case a bigger quake hits the popular tourist destination, a Greek minister said on Monday.
Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, has been shaken by tens of thousands of mild quakes since late January, forcing thousands of people to flee, and authorities to ban construction activity, and shut schools and nearby islands.
No major damage has been reported but scientists have said the seismic activity was unprecedented even in a quake-prone country like Greece and have not ruled out bigger tremors.
They have identified the main ferry port at the foot of a precipitous slope and other sites across Santorini as weak links, although they have not said they cannot be used in an emergency situation, Reuters reported.
Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Greece will build an evacuation port for the safe docking of passenger ferries until a new port infrastructure is in place.
"Along with the new port in Santorini which is being prepared, there was a decision for setting up an escape port on the part of the island where passenger ferries would be able to dock in an emergency," he said in an interview with Greek ANT1 television.
Although the tremors lessened over the weekend, local authorities extended emergency measures for a third week on Sunday and reiterated calls for people to stay away from coastal areas and steep hillsides prone to landslides.
"This story is not over," Costas Papazachos, a seismology professor, and a spokesperson for the Santorini quakes told public broadcaster ERT.
"Both authorities and habitants should get used to a rather unpleasant situation for some time, it could be another two, three months."
Santorini took its current shape following one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, around 1600 BC.
Seismologists have said the latest seismic activity, the result of moving tectonic plates and magma, has pushed subsurface layers of the island upwards.