22/01/2016

TheTimesofIndia
Title:SEVENSATSYSTEM5thnavigationsattakesIndiacloserto`desiGPS'
Author:UTejonmayam
Location:
ArticleDate:01/21/2016
PSLVC31PutsIRNSS1EInOrbit,LastTwoLaunchesByMarch
IndianSpaceResearchOrganisation(Isro)hasstarted2016withabang,launchingthefifth(IRNSS1E)
navigationsatelliteintheIndianRegionalNavigationSatelliteSystem(IRNSS)constellationthatwill
functionasanalternativetotheUSownedGlobalPositioningSystem(GPS).
AnXLversionofaPolarSatelliteLaunchVehicle(PSLVC31)placedinorbitthesatellite19.36
minutesafterliftofffromtheSatishDhawanSpaceCentreinSriharikotaat9.31amonWednesday.Isro
scientistssaidtheindigenousnavigationsystemwillbefullyoperationalinsixmonthsthoughallthe
sevensatelliteswouldbeinorbitmuchearlier.Wehavetwomoresatellitesintheserieswhichwe
intendtolaunchinacoupleofmonths,saidISROchairmanASKiranKumar.
IRNSSwillprovidenavigationandpositioningservicesinareasthatrequirehighprecisionforaviation,
marinenavigation,railtransportandmilitaryapplications.Insixmonths,Isroexpectsthesystemtobe
integratedwithsmartphones.
Withfoursatellites,wecouldputthesystemtocommercialuse.Nowwiththeercialuse.Nowwiththe
fifth,wecanstartpartialoperations,saidIRNSSmissiondirectorBJayakumar.Thefifthsatellitewill,
however,needaminimumofthreeweekstobeoperational.TheWednesdaylaunchwasthe32nd
consecutivelysuccessfulflightofPSLV,andthe11thoftheXLversionwhichhasfourstraponboosters.
SatishDhawanSpaceCentredirectorPKunhikrishnansaiditwasasweetnewyeargift.Thefour
satellites,meanwhile,havebeenfunctioningfromtheirdesignatedorbitalslotswithanachievedposition
accuracyof20mover18hourseveryday.Theywillbeoperationalover24hoursoncetheIRNSS
configurationiscomplete.
ButcomparedtoGPS,whichhasaprecisionoffivemetresandglobalcoverage,IRNSSwouldcover
onlyaradiusof1,500kmwithIndiaatthecentre.However,itwillreducethecountry'sdependenceon
foreignsystemsduringemergenciesincludingmilitarysituations.
WecannotsaythatoursystemwillphaseoutGPS.Whoeverwantstousetheservice,canavailit,
Jayakumarsaid.Handhelddevicesrequireasmalladditionalhardwareandacodeinthephonesoftware
tousetheservice.
Australia,Japan,RepublicofKoreaandRussiahaveexpressedinterestforcooperationindeveloping
satellitenavigationsystemswithIndia,Isrosaid.

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