India Successfully Places 2.2 Ton Satellite Into Orbit Boosting NavIC Navigation Capabilities

India significantly boosted its indigenously developed and built NavIC navigation system by launching a large satellite this week. India’s NavIC will soon rival America’s GPS, China’s BeiDou, Russian GLONASS, and other navigational systems.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Monday successfully launched NVS-01, a second-generation navigation satellite on board the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle or GSLV Mk-II, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.

India’s NavIC Navigation System Gets Its First Satellite

ISRO has established a regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). It was earlier known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

The NavIC constellation of geosynchronous and geostationary satellites will address India’s growing need for accurate location positioning, navigation, and precision timing requirements. It will be as good as, if not better than, other popular navigation systems such as GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and others.

ISRO scientists have confirmed that the NVS-01 will be a “Return Flight Mission” for the GSLV launch vehicle, which will carry the next-generation NavIC satellite. The NVS-01 satellite will replace the IRNSS-1G satellite launched in 2016.

As the name suggests, the NVS-01 is one of the many satellites that will form a constellation orbiting the Earth. The second-generation satellite, and the NavIC system, are far better than the previous-generation IRNSS constellation.

What Is The NVS-01 Navigation Satellite And How Will It Help?

According to ISRO’s mission document, NavIC satellites are used in terrestrial, aerial, and marine transportation, location-based services, personal mobility, resource monitoring, surveying and geodesy, scientific research, time dissemination and synchronization, and safety-of-life alert dissemination.

NavIC will eventually comprise a constellation of seven satellites and a dense network of ground stations operating 24×7. Three constellation satellites will be in the geostationary orbit and four satellites in inclined geosynchronous orbit.

The ground network for the NavIC includes a control center, precise timing facility, range and integrity monitoring stations, two-way ranging stations, etc. The satellite, which India’s own GSLV rocket successfully placed in the intended orbit has an indigenously developed rubidium atomic clock, a technology only a handful of countries possess, boasted ISRO.

Once fully operational, the NavIC coverage area will include India and a region up to 1,500km beyond the country’s boundary. NavIC is being optimized to provide user position accuracy of better than 20 meters and timing accuracy lesser than 50 nanoseconds.