The Indian Space Research Organisation will open 2025 scoring a century orbiting the country's navigation satellite 2,250 kg NVS-02 with its rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-F15.
ISRO said the proposed launch will be the 100th launch from the spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The 50.9 metre tall and weighing 420.7 ton GSLV-F15 rocket powered by indigenous cryogenic stage will place the NVS-02 satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) just over 19 minutes into the flight.
The satellite will be placed at an altitude of 322.93 km.
The satellite will be the replacement for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System -- the 1E (IRNSS-1E) satellite -= part of the first generation satellite series.
On Wednesday, January 29, at 6.23 am, the GSLV-F15 rocket is expected to blast off carrying from the second launch pad the NVS-02, India's second generation navigation satellite.
This is part of India's navigation satellite constellation Navigation with Indian Constellation or NavIC that will provide accurate Position, Velocity and Timing (PVT) services to the users in India and to the region extending about 1,500 km beyond the country's land mass.
NavIC will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS).
NavIC's SPS provides a position accuracy of better than 20 m and timing accuracy better than 40 ns over the primary service area.
Five second-generation NavIC satellites NVS-01/02/03/04/05 will augment the NavIC base layer constellation with enhanced features for ensuring continuity of services.
The NVS series of satellites incorporates L1 band signals additionally to widen the services.
The first of the second generation NavIC NVS-01 was orbited on May 29, 2023 by GSLV-F12 rocket.
For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock was flown in NVS-01.
The NVS-02 uses a combination of indigenous and procured Atomic clocks for precise time estimation.
According to ISRO, the NVS-02 satellite is configured with navigation payload in L1, L5 and S bands in addition to ranging payload in C-band like its predecessor-NVS-01.
It is configured on standard I-2K bus platform with a lift-off mass of 2,250 kg and power handling capability of about 3 kW. It will be placed at 111.75ºE replacing IRNSS-1E.
NVS-02 satellite was designed, developed and integrated at the ISRO's U R Satellite Centre (URSC) with the support of other satellite-based work Centres.
On completion of Assembly and Integrated Testing (AIT), the satellite was subjected to satellite level thermovac test to verify and validate its design and performance in simulated space environment during November-December 2024.
The satellite underwent dynamic test during December 2024 thus confirming its suitability to withstand the dynamic loads anticipated during launch, ISRO said.
The Indian space agency said the navigation satellite will be used for strategic applications, terrestrial, aerial, and maritime navigation, precision agriculture, geodetic surveying, fleet management, location-based services in mobile devices, orbit determination for satellites, Internet-of-Things (IoT) based applications, emergency services and timing services.
Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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