India had very
jubiliant moments to enter an exclusive club of five nations which have their
own satellite navigation and positioning system on successful launch of the
IRNSS-1G. country’s seventh navigation satellite and completion of the a constellation
of seven satellites for the purpose on the Thursday April’ 28.These
were the moments of immense pride for the nation on April 28, when 12.50 pm
sharp, when a 44.4-metre-tall PSLV rocket, weighing 320 tonnes, blasted into
the clear afternoon skies from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with a blazing
orangered tail trailing behind to put in orbit this seventh satellite in this
series of seven. After zooming through the sky for nearly 20 minutes, the
satellite IRNSS-1G was ejected from the rocket and injected into an elliptical
orbit. It swiftly opened its solar panels, and the nation rejoiced to have its
mini GPS, a regional positioning system.now the country will no
more have to depend on any foreign power for military navigation. With the
complete system now in place, the armed forces will be able to find their
position accurately in the battleground and direct ammunition and missiles even
deep into enemy territory, as it would have an extended range of 1,500 km of the system even
beyond our borders.
This “Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite System”(IRNSS) will be known to the world as NAVIC(Navigation
with Indian Constellation) , when the IRNSS-1G becomes operational in about a
month’s time.The 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.with this launch, the IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is now
complete. This will allow the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to focus
on the process of designing front end chips which will receive the navigational
signals sent out by the satellites. The system will be similar to the Global
Positioning System (GPS) operated by the United States with 24 satellites and
the Glonass, Galileo and BeiDou systems of Russia, Europe and China
respectively.
The system can also be
used for civilian navigation —i.e. for the aircraft, ships, railways and
others. It would also provide terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and
travellers, along with visual and voice navigation for drivers. It can also be
integrated into phones. Other civilian applications of the system would include
mapping, disaster management, and vehicle and fleet management, said experts.
Earlier, India had
already launched six regional navigational satellites (IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, ID,1E
and 1F), to provide accurate position information service to users across the
country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km. Though the full system
comprises nine satellites (seven in orbit and two on the ground as standby),
navigation services could be made operational with four. Each of these
satellite has costed about Rs 150 crore and the PSLV-XL version rocket about Rs
130 crore. The seven rockets would entail an outlay of Rs 910 crore . The total
project cost including other facilities is around Rs.1,420 crore, as per ISRO
officials. 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. All satellites will
have to undergo stabilization testing
and verification of their performance over the next few months before being
pushed into use, according to ISRO officials.
The Indian system
provides positional accuracy of 10 metres. Civilian usage of GPS would bloom
and costs would come down,when more and manufacturers have to start making the
navigation signal receivers.That will soon happen once the IRNSS is formally
declared operational,It would also add to our strength in the regional
diplomacy,since.
Since an area of 1,500
km from Indian boundaries will be covered under the navigational system and our
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already invited other countries to make use of
this system as well we would be able to secure better international cooperation
and leadership by giving access to the other countries of this region.We have
seven neighbours who may rely on us for technology to be provided by us in this
respect . They can use Indian services at their will. With an accuracy of
better than 10 m being claimed by ISRO, the navigation system will be offered
as an open or Standard Positioning Service and a superior, coded military
Restricted Service.
An Indian-owned
satellite navigation system is crucial to get positional accuracy during war or
a war-like situation as the country could be denied such information by
countries owing similar systems during such times. So, it is a unique gift of
our scientists for our people and polity.
