India is inching closer to having its own independent satellite navigation system.
Last week, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched a navigation satellite into Earth’s orbit. It is the sixth in a series of seven planned to orbit the planet, which together will make India’s home-grown independent navigation satellite system, an alternative to the US Global Positioning System that India currently relies on.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, or IRNSS, is designed to provide accurate position information to users in India as well as the region extending 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from its boundary. The satellites will be able to track the location and positioning of vehicles, provide information to assist during natural disasters and can be integrated with mobile phones and used to provide visual and voice navigation for drivers.
“Successful launch of IRNSS-1F is an accomplishment we all take immense pride in,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s said in a statement, congratulating the scientists from ISRO after the launch.
Below is a photograph of the satellite, as it was lifted off using the space agency’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
ISRO said in a statement that the launch of the seventh and final satellite that will complete the constellation for the satellite-navigation service is scheduled for next month. Satellites in the navigation system run from 1A to 1G. The first, IRNSS-1A, was launched in July 2013.
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