The spacecraft has three-axis stabilisation to keep it in the correct orientation, and will broadcast signals in the L1, L2 and L3 navigation bands for Russian military and commercial users.

[3] It is equipped with two solar panels to generate power, and is expected to remain in service for ten years.

Kosmos 2501 was launched from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage was used to perform the launch, which took place at 21:52:26 UTC on 30 November 2014.

The United States Space Command assigned it the Satellite Catalog Number 40315.