India to launch first unit of its navigational satellite system in June

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the first satellite of the country's satellite navigational system in June, ISRO chairman and secretary of the Department of Space (DoS) K Radhakrishnan said today.

He said the first satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System constellation, IRNSS-1, will be launched using a PSLV-C22 rocket.

Radhakrishnan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a symposium on 'Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) Series: A Saga of 25 years'.

The IRNSS constellation, with seven such satellites, will form an independent regional navigation satellite system that will provide position accuracy of better than 10 metres over India and about 1,500 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.

The remote sensing satellite will provide standard positioning service for both civilian use and restricted service for the special authorised users like the defence forces, the official said.

Post launch, IRNSS-1 will undergo tests for a period of three to four months before being commissioned, he added.

Speaking at the symposium, marking the 25th anniversary of the launch of India's first operational remote sensing satellite IRS-1A, Radhakrishnan said India has planned 12 missions over the next year.

These include the Rs450 crore technology-demonstrator Mars orbiter mission in October-November, which would pave the way for future scientific exploratory missions, and GSLV-Mk III experimental venture.

The GSLV-Mk III is conceived and designed to make ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4,500 kg to 5,000 kg, he said.