The prestigious second meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) got underway on Tuesday with a call that it should look to capacity building, oriented towards day-to-day needs and also provide a platform for global cooperation. Inaugurating the four-day event, organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said  It is of importance considering that “GPS and global navigation systems will in the coming years mean what the cellphone is today”.

The event has participants from 13 nations and 14 international institutions. Satellite-based navigation and positioning systems have become indispensable in mobile telephones, surface transport, agriculture and fisheries, city planning and disaster management, etc.

India’s independent satellite navigation system using home-grown components is expected to be ready by 2012. The Indian Regional Navigation System  (IRNS) will consist of a constellation of seven or eight satellites in a geo-stationary orbit that will give navigation capability independent of the GPS system, said Dr S Pal, deputy director, ISRO Satellite Centre, speaking to Deccan Herald. The IRNS aims to provide position accuracy of more than 20 metres across India and even to some extent beyond. ISRO is also developing Gagan, a satellite-based navigation system for civil aviation.

The Russian Glonass and the upcoming Galileo of the EU are two other navigation systems but GPS remains the only fully global system.

 COMMISSIONING OF INSAT-4CR      
Bangalore: Indian communication satellite INSAT-4CR, launched from the Satish Dhawan Spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday by a Geosychronous Satellite Launch Vehicle(GSLV-FO4), will be commissioned in a month's time, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said today.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the second meeting ofthe International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), he said, ''on Wednesday, we will carry out the first orbit rising process and within a month the satellite will be operational.''

The first orbit raising manoeuvre was successfully carried out by firing 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board the satellite for a duration of 27 minutes by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, he said.

 He also said India plans to build a constellation of seven geo-stationary satellites at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore to meet the navigational system requirements in cars, trains and aircraft. "Design (of the satellites) is more or less complete. We are in the process of building the first proto model," Secretary in the Department of Space G Madhavan Nair said.

By 2010
"First launch will take place around 2010. We should be able to complete all the satellites by 2012," Nair, also the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, told reporters on the sidelines of an international space meet here. These seven geo-stationary satellites will cater to the navigational system requirements in cars, trains and aircraft, he said.