Brief Context
Context ISRO will launch three more navigation satellites, NVS-03, NVS-04, and NVS-05, by 2026 to bolster the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Significance The first batch launched in the previous decades has been successful in establishing the Personal Navigation Device (PND) services in the country. The NVS series is the second generation of these satellites that are progressively being deployed to further strengthen the PND ecosystem in the nation.
Source Content
Syllabus: GS3/ Science and Technology
Context
- ISRO will launch three more navigation satellites, NVS-03, NVS-04, and NVS-05, by 2026 to bolster the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)
- Established by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NavIC is India’s autonomous regional navigation satellite system, designed to fulfill both civilian and military navigational needs.
- NavIC was erstwhile known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
- It provides precise Position, Velocity, and Timing (PVT) services within India and extends up to 1,500 km beyond the country’s borders, forming its primary service area.
- NavIC is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24 x 7.
- Three satellites of the constellation are placed in geostationary orbit and four satellites are placed in inclined geosynchronous orbit.
- The ground network consists of a control centre, precise timing facility, range and integrity monitoring stations, two-way ranging stations, etc.
- NavIC offers two services: Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users and Restricted Service (RS) for strategic users.
- It provides location accuracy better than 20 meters and timing accuracy better than 40 nanoseconds across the core service area.
- Currently only four out of the seven satellites in the current constellation are fully functional.
NVS Series
- These are five second-generation NavIC satellites — NVS-01 to NVS-05 and are planned to enhance the existing constellation.
- These satellites incorporate L1 band communication, which broadens NavIC’s compatibility and usability for diverse applications.
- NVS-01, the first of the second-generation satellites, was launched in 2023.
- For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock was flown in NVS-01.
- NVS-02 was launched in January 2025.
Significance
- The first batch launched in the previous decades has been successful in establishing the Personal Navigation Device (PND) services in the country.
- The NVS series is the second generation of these satellites that are progressively being deployed to further strengthen the PND ecosystem in the nation.
- Many applications based on NavIC spanning from strategic uses, tracking of shipping vessels, time synchronization, train tracking and safety of alert life dissemination are accomplished.
Source: IE