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Leaping ahead

Last Updated 02 July 2013, 17:31 IST

The successful launch of the country’s first dedicated navigation satellite, IRNSS-1A, from Sriharikotta is an important landmark in India’s efforts to extend its capabilities to new areas of space applications.

It marks the first leap in the development of a dependable and exclusive navigational system for use in both civilian and military fields. The launch has also again confirmed the reliability of the launch vehicle in the PSLV series, which is he mainstay of the country’s space efforts. The  navigation system has been in various stages of conceptualisation and development for the last nine years. The remarkable feat underlines the strength of the infrastructure developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the expertise available in the organisation for increasingly difficult and complex tasks in the use of space. There are only four other powers --  the US, Russia, China and the EU --  which have their own navigational  system placed in space. Some major countries are still working on it.

The navigation system will have uses in terrestrial, aerial and marine  areas.  It will aid efforts in disaster management,  give guidance to vehicles in their movement on roads and to ships on the sea and can even provide information to trekkers on foot and tourists looking for information. Mobile telephony will also benefit from the operation of the system. With some of its applications it will help to transfer the benefits of space technology to the daily lives of people. The system will also be useful  for the armed forces in the deployment and tracking of units on land and in the sea. Its footprints cover a range of 1,500 km outside the country and therefore it can serve the needs of other countries in the neighbourhood too.

The satellite launched on Monday is the first of a series of  seven meant only for navigational guidance. Since it is a dedicated and sophisticated system it will have  many times more accuracy than some existing facilities. Ultimately the aim is to develop a system similar to the US global positioning system (GPS). The entire system will be in place with the launch of six more satellites in the coming months. All the elements and the technology have been indigenously developed on a budget of Rs 1,420 crore. Apart from helping the country to achieve a new technology threshold, it will ensure that the returns are much more than the investment.

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(Published 02 July 2013, 17:31 IST)

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