India plans to launch its first navigational satellite in
June, a top official of the Department of Space (DoS) said today.
The first Satellite of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS) constellation, IRNSS-1 will be launched by PSLV-C22, said DoS
Secretary and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K
Radhakrishnan. According to ISRO officials, IRNSS is an independent regional
navigation satellite system, designed to provide position accuracy of better
than 10 metres over India and the region extending about 1500 km around the
country.
"It is designed to provide an accurate real time
Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) services to users on a variety of platforms
with 24x7 service availability under all weather conditions," an ISRO
official said.
IRNSS provides two basic services -- standard positioning
service for common civilian users and restricted service for special authorised
users, the official said.
"We are planning for June launch," Radhakrishnan
told reporters after addressing a symposium on 'Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
(IRS) Series: A Saga of 25 years'.
IRNSS-1 would be tested in orbit for three-four months once
it's launched, he said. ISRO has planned to have a constellation of seven
satellites under IRNSS.
Speaking at the event, marking the 25th anniversary of the
launch of India's first operational Remote Sensing Satellite IRS-1A,
Radhakrishnan said India has planned 12 missions (both launch vehicles and
satellites put together) in the next one year.
These include the Rs 450 crore Mars orbiter mission in
October-November aimed at demonstrating India's technological capability to
reach Martian orbit and paving the way for future scientific exploratory missions,
and GSLV-Mk III experimental venture.
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