A Russian Rokot carrier rocket will take off from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia on September 8 to put a Gonets-M satellite into orbit, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

Pre-launch preparations are currently being completed at the space center in the Arkhangelsk region, Lt. Col. Alexander Zolotukhin said.

The Gonets-M satellite will be part of Russia's large-scale Glonass satellite navigation system.

Glonass - the Global Navigation Satellite System - is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems enable users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

Russia currently has a total of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit, but two of them are not functional. The system requires 18 operational satellites for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of Russia and at least 24 satellites to provide navigation services worldwide.

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti)