BANGALORE: The launch of India’s third navigation satellite, the IRNSS 1C is progressing as scheduled as the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) announced on Sunday that the launch rehearsal has commenced. The launch is scheduled for 1.56 am on October 10 IST.
The 1C satellite is the third satellite out of a total of seven which will constitute the IRNSS. The 1A and 1B were launched in July 2013 and April 2014. According to ISRO, the 1C satellite has a lift-off mass of 1,425.4 kg and will be launched into a sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit with a 284 km perigee (nearest point to earth) and a 20,650 apogee (farthest point from earth). The satellite will be launched on board the PSLV C26 with a XL configuration.
“After its injection into the preliminary orbit, the two solar panels will be automatically deployed in quick succession and the Master Control Facility in Hassan will take control to perform the initial orbit raising manoeuvres,” an ISRO description of the entire process said.
The satellite carries two payloads which include a navigation component and a ranging component. While the navigation payload will transmit navigation service signals to the users, the ranging payload will help determine the range of the satellite through a C-band transponder.
The IRNSS 10 is designed to provide navigational services for users in India and upto a range of 1,500 km from India’s borders. The Standard Positioning Service will be available to all users while Restricted Service will be provided to authorised users like the military and the government. The accuracy is expected to be better than 20 meters according to ISRO.