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ISRO’s
GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission · Recently, the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first of the
second-generation satellites NVS-01for
its navigation constellation successfully. The 2,232 kg satellite, the
heaviest in the constellation, was launched by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket that lifted
off from Sriharikota. · Each of the
seven satellites currently in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
(IRNSS) constellation, weighed much less — around 1,425 kg — at liftoff. They
all rode the lighter Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO’s workhorse launch rocket. ·
NVS-01 is the
first in the series of five satellites. ·
The GSLV-F12
is the 15th flight of India’s GSLV and the 9th flight with indigenous cyro
stage. · This is the
6th operational flight of GSLV with indigenous
cryogenic stage. The NVS-01 carried navigation payloads L1, L5 and S
bands. · Interestingly,
for the first time, an indigenous atomic clock was flown in NVS-01. · The last IRNSS
satellite, IRNSS-1I, was launched in
April 2018 to replace an older, partially defunct satellite in the
constellation. IRNSS-1I was ISRO’s ninth satellite for the NavIC
constellation, but is considered to be the eighth because the IRNSS-1H —
launched eight months earlier in August 2017 and originally intended to
replace the older satellite — was lost after the heat shield of the payload
failed to open on time
Q. What’s
new in the second-generation NavIC satellite? · Atomic Clock: The satellite will have a Rubidium
atomic clock onboard, a significant technology developed by India. “The
space-qualified Rubidium atomic clock indigenously developed by Space
Application Centre-Ahmedabad is an important technology which only a handful
of countries possess · L1 signals for better use in wearable devices: The second generation satellites will send
signals in a third frequency, L1, besides the L5 and S frequency signals that
the existing satellites provide, increasing interoperability with other
satellite-based navigation systems. · The L1 frequency
is among the most commonly used in the Global Positioning System (GPS), and
will increase the use of the regional navigation system in wearable devices
and personal trackers that use low-power, single-frequency chips. · Longer mission life: The second-generation satellites will also have
a longer mission life of more than 12 years. The existing satellites have a
mission life of 10 years. |
