India's first dedicated navigation satellite placed in orbit

India's first navigation satellite was successfully placed in orbit by an Indian rocket at midnight in copy book style.

With the successful launch of the first of the seven satellites planned under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), India took the first step in joining the select group of nations having such a system.

(Photo courtesy: PTI)

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K.Radhakrishnan said with the successful launch of the satellite, India had entered "a new era of space applications".

Exactly at 11.41 p.m., the rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C22 (PSLV-C22) - standing around 44 metres tall and weighing around 320 tonnes roared off, turning the dark skies bright orange.

(NDTV photo)

The expendable rocket had a single but important luggage, the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1A navigation satellite.

(NDTV photo)

Blasting off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, around 80 km from Chennai, to the onlookers, the rocket looked like an inverted flare or torch with a long handle as it ascended towards the twinkling stars amidst the cheers of the gathered scientists and media persons.

(NDTV photo)

ISRO scientists at new rocket mission control room were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the Earth's gravitational pull. At around 20 minutes into the flight, PSLV-C22 spat out IRNSS-1A.

(NDTV photo)

Announcing the precise injection of the satellite in its designated orbit, ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan said: "India has entered a new era of space applications."

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Soon after the ejection into the orbit the satellite's solar panels were deployed.

The satellite control was taken over by the Mission Control Facility (MCF) at Karnataka's Hassan. The MCF will manage the satellite's orbit raising operations firing the on-board motors till it is placed in the circular geosynchronous orbit.

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The IRNSS-1A satellite is intended to provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management.

The satellite with a life span of around 10 years is one of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment - a regional navigational system developed by India designed to provide accurate position information service to users within the country and up to 1,500 km from the nation's boundary line, the ISRO said.

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While ISRO is silent on the navigation system's strategic application, it is clear that IRNSS will be used for defence purposes as well.

The system is similar to the global positioning system (GPS) of the US (24 satellites), Glonass of Russia (24 satellites), Galileo of Europe (27 satellites), China's Beidou (35 satellites) or the Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System with three satellites.

The entire IRNSS system is expected to be in place by 2015 and the whole project is expected to cost around Rs.1,420 crore (over $230 million).

(NDTV photo)