Russia has launched another Glonass-M navigation satellite on a Soyuz carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space centre as part of its Glonass global navigation system.

The Glonass-M will complement a group of 30 Glonass satellites already in orbit.

Glonass is the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System (GPS), which is designed for both military and civilian uses.

The system requires 24 operational and two to three reserve satellites in orbit in order to ensure global coverage.

The three reserve Glonass-M satellites were launched from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on 4 November 2011 after three Glonass-Ms were destroyed in a failed launch in 2010.