India is set to send its first second-generation navigation satellite, NVS-01, to space on Sunday morning (29 May) with its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket, a medium-lift launcher.
This will be the ISRO's fourth launch mission in 2023.
"NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services," a release issued by the ISRO said. "NVS series of satellites will sustain and augment the NavIC with enhanced features. This series incorporates L1 band signals additionally to widen the services. For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock will be flown in NVS-01."
A senior official told the Hindustan Times daily that the launch aims to maintain the functioning of a navigational system, Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), which comprises seven satellites.
What is NAVic?
NAVic is used for civilian and defense navigation, positioning, and timing services in the Indian mainland and even 1,500 km beyond India's borders.
The satellites include IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, and IRNSS-1E, IRNSS-1F, and IRNSS-1 G satellites. As several satellites belonging to the NaVIC constellation have outlived their lives (launched in 2018), the ISRO is replacing at least five with the improved L-band. This would enable the satellites to offer the public better global positioning services (GPS).
"NavIC is 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," reads the ISRO's website. NavIC was earlier known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).