Indian rocket successfully puts into orbit navigation satellite
SRIHARIKOTA, Andhra Pradesh: India early on Thursday put into orbit navigation satellite IRNSS-1I, a part of Indian satellite navigation system NAVIC in copy-book style.
The 1,425-kg satellite was carried into space by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket’s ‘XL’ variant.
Simply put, NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation, earlier the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS) is the Indian ‘GPS’. After the successful launch, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Sivan said: “I am extremely happy to announce that the PSLV has precisely injected the navigation satellite in the targetted orbit.”
He said ISRO is moving towards to get the rocket and satellite through industry.
Sivan said over the next eight months, ISRO has planned nine launch missions including the moon mission towards the end of the year.
At 4.04 am, the four stage/engine PSLV-XL rocket, standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 321 tonnes, blasted off from the first launch pad.
Just over 19 minutes into the flight, the rocket slung IRNSS-1I into the orbit from where the satellite will be taken up to its final position at geo synchronous orbit at a height of 36,000 km.
The Rs 1,420 crore Indian satellite navigation system NAVIC consists of nine satellites — seven in orbit and two as substitutes.
The fully operational system is expected to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km. One of the substitutes was the IRNSS-1H as the IRNSS-1A’S rubidium atomic clocks, important for giving accurate positional data, had failed.
However, the IRNSS-1H satellite launch mission ended in a failure on August 31 last year.
The 1,425-kg IRNSS-1I was the second satellite sent up as replacement for IRNSS-1A and the ninth of the IRNSS satellite series.
Each satellite has three rubidium atomic clocks and a total of 27 clocks for the navigation satellite system (including the standby satellites) were supplied by the same vendor.
Like its other IRNSS predecessors, IRNSS-1I also carries two types of payloads for navigation and ranging.
The navigation payload, operating in L5-band and S-band, will transmit navigation service signals to the users, while the ranging payload consists of a C-band transponder, which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite.
IRNSS-1I also carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.
NAVIC provides two types of services — standard positioning service and restricted service.
At 4.04 am, the four stage/engine PSLVXL rocket, standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 321 tonnes, blasted off from the first launch pad