ALL SET FOR INDIAN GPS
India has put into orbit its 7th and final navigation satellite IRNSS-1G. With its constellation complete now, India is all set to joins the elite league of countries with their own navigation systems, and get independence from the US Global Positioning System.
NEW DELHI: India’s Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will be known to the world as NAVIC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday after the successful launch of IRNSS-1G, the seventh and final satellite of the system.
Modi congratulated the scientists involved in the mission saying, “with this successful launch, we will determine our own paths powered by our technology”.
“The world will know it as Navic .... The new technology will benefit our people, our fishermen. This is a great gift to people from scientists,” Modi said.
When the IRNSS-1G becomes operational in about a month’s time, NAVIC would offer services like terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, navigation aide for hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for drivers.
Till date, India has launched six regional navigational satellites as part of a constellation of seven satellites to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km.
“The Indian system provides positional accuracy of 10 metres. For civilian usage to bloom and costs to come down, more manufacturers have to start making the navigation signal receivers. That will happen once the IRNSS is formally declared operational,” AS Ganeshan, retired programme director of Isro’s Satellite Navigation Progamme, said.
Though the full system comprises nine satellites -- seven in orbit and two on the ground as stand-by, the navigation services could be made operational with four satellites, Isro officials had said earlier.
The first satellite IRNSS-1A was launched in July 2013, the second IRNSS-1B in April 2014, the third on October 2014, the fourth in March 2015, and the fifth and sixth on January 20 and March 10, 2016.
Each satellite costs about `150 crore, while the PSLV-XL version rocket costs about `130 crore. The seven rockets would entail an outlay of about `910 crore. The total project cost including other facilities is around `1,420 crore, said Isro officials.
An Indian-owned satellite navigation system is crucial to get positional accuracy during war or a war-like situation as the country may be denied such information by countries owing similar systems during such times.