The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on May 29 successfully placed the NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2232 kg, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
- This Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) which placed the satellite, lifted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
- The GSLV-F12 is the 15th flight of India’s GSLV and the 9th flight with indigenous cyro stage. This is the 6th operational flight of GSLV with indigenous cryogenic stage.
- The NVS-01 carried navigation payloads L1, L5 and S bands. Interestingly, for the first time, an indigenous atomic clock was flown in NVS-01.
About NavIC
- To meet the positioning, navigation and timing requirements of the nation, ISRO has established a regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).
- NavIC was erstwhile known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). NavIC offers two services: Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users and Restricted Service (RS) for strategic users.
- NavIC is designed with a constellation of eight satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24X7. Three of these satellites are located in the geostationary orbit at approximately 22,000 miles above the earth’s surface and five in the geosynchronous orbit.
- It is signalled using dual frequency in the L5 (at 1,176.45 MHz) and S (at 2,492.028 MHz) bands of the microwave spectrum. GPS, however, uses a single frequency band. NavIC, therefore, provides better positioning accuracy of nearly 10 metres throughout the Indian landmass, as compared to the GPS’s accuracy of 20 metres.
- While NavIC is an independent stand-alone navigation satellite system, currently operating on a regional scale, the Indian government has clarified its stand on developing it as a global satellite navigation system, on par with the US’s GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, Europe’s Galileo and China’s BeiDou, in coming years.
- In its present status, NavIC is competing with QZSS from Japan, which also targets only the Japanese and neighbouring regions.
- South Korea, which currently uses GPS, is also working to construct a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS).
