Trimble and Russian Space Systems Form Joint Venture for Geodetic Infrastructure

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Trimble and Russian Space Systems have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture that will be based in Moscow.

Rusnavgeoset will be responsible for selling commercial GNSS geodetic network infrastructure systems localized for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Russian Space Systems, one of Russia’s most long-established aerospace institutions, is an open joint stock company (JSC) that was reorganized late last year from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering (FSUE RISDE).

Established in 1946, RISDE designed the first GLONASS on-board navigation payloads and user equipment, and JSE RSS continues that role in the modernization of the GLONASS system. Its director-general, Yury Urlichich, is also the chief designer for GLONASS. In 2008, RISDE drafted the GLONASS Interface Control Document (ICD) 5.1 describing the technical parameters that enable designer of user equipment that can process the system's satellite signals on GLONASS L1 and L2.

Announced on May 28, Rusnavgeosetwill be officially launched at the International Satellite Navigation Forum in Moscow on June 1, where Urlichich will play a key role. Operations will begin following the completion of the joint venture's registration, which is expected to be in June 2010.

In Russia, JSCs are commercial organizations that do not own or operate any state property, unlike FSUEs. For example, the JSC “Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev Company,” which builds the GLONASS satellites themselves, became a JSC in 2008.

In May 2009, Trimble and the China Aerospace Science & Industry Academy of Information Technology (CASIC-IT) signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture in China.