First dedicated navigation satellite to be launched tomorrow

India's first dedicated navigation satellite IRNSS-1A will be launched onboard PSLV-C22 around midnight tomorrow from the spaceport of Sriharikota with the mission countdown progressing smoothly.
ISRO's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is scheduled to blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 80 km from here, at 11.41 PM carrying the satellite.
"The 64-and-a-half hour countdown for the launch has begun at 7.11 AM yesterday and is progressing smoothly. Everything is on schedule and the launch would take place at 11.41 pm tomorrow," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman Deviprasad Karnik told PTI today.
The 1,425 kg IRNSS-1A, the first satellite in Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), has a mission life of 10 years and would provide accurate real-time position and timing information to users in the country as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km around it, ISRO said.

The IRNSS-1A, carrying two types of payloads - navigation and ranging payloads - would be injected into space about 20 minutes after lift-off.
On the unusual midnight launch, the first from Sriharikota, ISRO sources said the time for every launch was determined by the orbital parameters and inclination. Taking into consideration the requirements of IRNSS-1A, it had been fixed at 11.41 PM.