ISRO set to launch satellite with corrected clocks:

ISRO set to launch satellite with corrected clocks:

Context:

• Indian Space Research Organisation will soon launch a replacement navigation satellite fitted with corrected atomic clocks to make up for the satellite, IRNSS-1A, which failed in mid 2016.

Explanation:

• The upcoming IRNSS-1H will be sent up towards the end of August.
• Its launch became urgent after all three rubidium atomic clocks on IRNSS-1A failed in mid-2016.
• Three more clocks failed later across the fleet of seven satellites, which together had 21 atomic clocks.

The malfunction:

• The malfunctions struck the orbiting satellites even as ISRO completed putting the seventh and last regional navigation spacecraft, 1G, in orbit in April, 2016.
• Notably, 1A can still send low-powered messages and weather data that are useful to fishermen.
• The first regional navigation spacecraft was put in orbit in July 2013.

Navigation Indian Constellation:

• The Rs. 1,420-crore fleet, now called NAViC or Navigation Indian Constellation, is India’s own GPS-like system to give accurate information about location and time of persons or objects,  in the same way as the older U.S. Global Positioning System or Russia’s GLONASS.