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Russia has inaugurated a new satellite station in Nicaragua that will operate its GLONASS system, designed to rival America’s GPS network, according to officials.
Igor Komarov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, on Thursday hailed the moment for opening “a new page in this history,” Nicaragua’s state-run news website 19 de Julio reported.
The station built in Nicaragua’s southern town of Nejapa under a 2015 agreement would receive “high precision” satellite signals that would help in times of disaster, support navigation of boats and ships in the country, and assist Managua’s fight against drug traffickers, he said.
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It is the first GLONASS station in Central America, he added.
Nicaragua, presided over by the former Marxist guerrilla Daniel Ortega, is critical of US policy but maintains trade relations. It has good political ties with Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela.
GLONASS, which stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, is the second-biggest satellite positioning system after the US Global Positioning System. Both have multiple civilian and military uses.
Ortega’s son and presidential advisor Laureano Ortega attended the ceremony on Thursday. He said the GLONASS station was “a strategic project” between Nicaragua and Russia.
