NAVIC is the latest.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) completed successfully on Thursday the seventh consecutive successful launch of the navigation satellite with IRNSS-1G, which is the last of the constellation that will make India self-sufficient with indigenous navigation system.
Today’s success also marked a sweet revenge on the United States that denied GPS assistance to India during the Kargil war with Pakistan. During the Kargil war of 1999, India had sought the help of the US in providing the GPS data of the region, which the US denied stating that Kargil war is part of the law and order problem of India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who watched today’s launch proceedings from his office, later during the day announced the name of India’s Navigation system as “Navic”. He also wrote on Facebook: “A historic day for India’s space programme. 125 crore Indians got a Navic. Congrats to all our scientists who worked tirelessly for the launch of IRNSS-1G Mission. India salutes your persistence & dedication.”
With Navic providing vital information about the India and its surrounding terrains, it will reduce the country’s dependency on US Global Positioning System (GPS).
Here are five achievements by ISRO which has made India proud:
Mars Orbiter Mission
It was a historic moment for India and space research worldwide as ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), dubbed as Mangalyaan, successfully entered the Martian orbit on September 2014 in its maiden attempt. India became the first country to successfully complete maiden Mars mission and also the fourth country to successfully venture into Mars. Since it penetrated the Martian orbit, Mangalyaan has sent several images of the red planet.
Mission PSLV-C28
ISRO is one of the most reliable names when it comes to commercial missions and the successful launch of the PSLV C28, the heaviest commercial mission undertaken by the Indian space agency, added to its credibility. PSLV C28 successfully launches five UK satellites weighing over 1440kg, fired up to the orbit carrying five British satellites on-board.
Chandrayaan
Chandrayaan is Indian Lunar Exploration Programme. The first mission Chandrayaan-1 was launched on October 2008 on board PSLV XL rocket. The Chandrayaan-1 mission carried Moon Impact Prob payload that made contact with the Moon and made the stunning discovery of water on Moon.
India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan 2, is expected to be launched in 2017 aboard the heavy duty GSLV Mk II rocket.
GLSL MK3
Recently, ISRO tested the crew module aboard the GSLV MK3, which will by 2020 puts India in a special group of space cruising nations capable of taking humans to space. Adding to this, ISRO is also working on a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) to reduce satellite launch costs. Also, ISRO is thinking of taking GSLV to the next level with GSLV MK4 which will be able to lift 6.5 tons instead of 4 tons of GSLV MK3.
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)
IRNSS is an ingeniously built constellation of seven satellites which has been now given an operational name of NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation). The satellites can provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services and extend its service to regions 1500 km. around India. IRNSS satellite constellation consists of 3 satellites in GEO orbit and 4 satellites in GSO orbit, that are 36,000 km. above earth surface. Even though seven satellites are enough for operating NAVIC, two more satellites will be kept as standby in the ground station. A network of 21 ranging stations located across the country will provide data for the orbital determination of the satellites and monitoring of the navigation signal.