Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS): NavIC

News: Antrix has recently put forward two separate tenders to identify industries that can develop dedicated NavIC-based hardware and systems.

Facts:

About Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS): NavIC

• IRNSS (NavIC) is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30°South to 50° North, Longitude 30°East to 130°East.
• Types of Services:
  • Standard Positioning Service (SPS): It will be provided to all the users.
  • Restricted Service (RS): It is an encrypted service which will be provided only to the authorised users (military and security agencies).
• The space segment consists of the IRNSS constellation of eight satellites, NavIC (Navigation in Indian Constellation).
• Three satellites are located in suitable orbital slots in the geostationary orbit and the remaining four are located in geosynchronous orbits with the required inclination and equatorial crossings in two different planes.
• Some applications of IRNSS are:
  • Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
  • Disaster Management
  • Vehicle tracking and fleet management
  • Integration with mobile phones
  • Precise Timing
  • Mapping and Geodetic data capture
  • Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
  • Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

Additional Information:

Antrix:

• Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), Bengaluru is one of the commercial arm of ISRO. The other commercial arm of ISRO is the recently established NewSpace India Ltd.
• ACL is a wholly owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the Department of Space, Ministry of Science and Technology.
• It was incorporated as a private limited company owned by Government of India in 1992 as a Marketing arm of ISRO.
• The objective of Antrix is promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. Another major objective is to facilitate development of space related industrial capabilities in India.

Geosynchronous orbit:

• It is a path around the Earth where the orbital period matches the Earth’s rotation period. This path is in high Earth orbit (as it is placed at an altitude of 35790 km) . Telecommunications and other remote sensing satellites are placed in this orbit.

Geostationary Orbit (GSO):

• It is a geosynchronous orbit with an inclination of zero, i.e. it lies on the same plane as that of the equator. It lies 35,786 km above earth’s equator.
• A satellite in this orbit appears to be stationary as seen from the earth. The geostationary satellite remains at the same position throughout the day. Thus, it is used for applications which requires a direct line of communication between the satellite and the receiver (for example-direct TV broadcast).