ISRO bracing up for Chandrayaan 2 post successful IRNSS-1I launch: 10 facts

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully launched the navigation satellite IRNSS1I.  

The PSLV-C41/IRNSS-1I Mission blasted off at 4.04 am from the first launch pad at the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre. It was a normal lift-off, ISRO officials said.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)Chairman K Sivan described the mission as a success and congratulated the scientists.

He said IRNSS-1I was successfully placed in the designated orbit.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is a constellation of seven satellites that provides indigenously developed regional GPS services called NavIC.

IRNSS-1I is expected to replace IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven navigation satellites, which was rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed. The seven satellites are part of the NavIC navigation satellite constellation.

This is an independent Indian Satellite-based positioning system for critical National applications. The main objective is to provide Reliable Position, Navigation and Timing services over India and its neighbourhood, to provide fairly good accuracy to the user.

Navigation satellites are meant to give position information, combining applications like locating fishermen, and during times of disaster

The launch is ISRO's second attempt at sending a replacement satellite.

Congratulating Team Isro for the successful launch, Prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Congratulations to our scientists on the successful launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1I by PSLV. This success will bring benefits of our space programme to the common man. Proud of team @isro!"

A busy year for ISRO

"We have a lot more missions on the anvil. In the next eight months, we are going to have nine missions. We are going to have GSAT, PSLV missions... Towards the end of the year we have the major mission - Chandryaan-2," ISRO Director said. 

There were plans for the 5.7-tonne GSAT-11 mission, a throughput satellite using Arianne rocket, he said, adding that it would be the heaviest satellite the space agency has made so far.

"This apart, there would be GSLK-Mk3-D2, which is going to launch GSAT-29. Then we are going to have a host of GSLV missions like DigiSat and high-resolution remote sensing satellites," Sivan said.

10 facts about today's IRNSS-1I launch:

1. This is the second attempt by ISRO to send a replacement satellite as on August 2017 the launch of IRNSS-1H failed.

2. NavIC’s first satellite, IRNSS-1A, was launched in July 2013. Three years into what was expected to be a ten-year mission, one of the three atomic clocks aboard the satellite failed. The spacecraft’s other two clocks failed over the next six months, leaving it unable to broadcast navigation data.

3. ISRO’s four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) delivered IRNSS-1I to orbit. The PSLV, which flew in its most powerful PSLV-XL configuration, uses a mixture of solid and liquid propellants

4. This system was commissioned in 2006. One of its main aims is to help the military in hostile situations as foreign countries may not help with their navigation systems in such times. The purpose of these IRNSS satellites is to create India's own navigation system which would be in the lines of US' GPS or Global Positioning System.

5. On the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) being critical of NavIC still not being fully operational, after more than 10 years of its launch, the ISRO head said with the launch of IRNSS-1I, the system was now put in place and the applications would have to be rolled out.

6. Serving both military and civilian needs, NavIC relies on seven satellites broadcasting highly-accurate timing signals that a receiver can use to triangulate its location. 

7. The IRNSS satellites are capable of tracking navigation up to 1,500 km from the Indian mainland. This means it covers large tracts of Pakistan too.

8. Three of NavIC’s satellites are positioned in equatorial geostationary orbits, while the remaining four satellites are in geosynchronous orbits inclined by about 28 degrees to the equator.

9. The NavIC constellation is really going to create history and make innovative applications to the entire community in the ocean-based services especially for the underserved and unserved, Sivan said.

10. Built for a ten-year job in space, IRNSS-1I is expected to be ready for work in about a month after routine orbit manoeuvres and tests.                                                                                                    With inputs from Agencies, NASA website and ISRO website