ISRO to launch navigation satellite on May 29

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will on May 29 launch NVS-01 navigation satellite which incorporates L1 band signals additionally to widen the services from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The GSLV-F12 will take off at 10.42 am on Monday with the NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2,232 kg.

Also Read | Climate change is making cyclones more intense

“This Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission is designed to deploy the NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2232 kg, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. Subsequent orbit raising manoeuvres will be used for taking the satellite to the intended orbit,” the ISRO said in a statement.

NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services, the agency said, adding that the NVS series of satellites will sustain and augment the NavIC with enhanced features.

This series incorporates L1 band signals additionally to widen the services. For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock will be flown in NVS-01, the ISRO said. This is ISRO’s fourth launch in 2023 after SSLV launch in February, OneWeb India-2 mission in March, and PSLV-C55 mission in April.

The PSLV-C55 had TeLEOS-2 and Lumelite-4, Singapore satellites, and seven non-separating Poem-2 payloads such as Aris-2, PiLOT, Arka200, Starberry, DSOL, DSOD-3U, and DSOD-6U. This year is likely to be very busy for ISRO as it plans to launch Chandrayaan-3 in July.

The mission had the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), where the spent PS4 stage of the launch vehicle would be utilized as an orbital platform to carry out scientific experiments through non-separating payloads. The payloads belong to ISRO/Department of Space, Bellatrix, Dhruva Space, and Indian Institute of Astrophysics.