Subsequent orbit-raising manoeuvres will take NVS-01 navigation satellite into the intended geosynchronous orbit, ISRO said.
NVS-01 would augment the country’s regional navigation system, providing accurate and real-time navigation.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath congratulated the entire team for the “excellent outcome” of the mission.
“NVS-01 has been placed in precise orbit by GSLV. Congratulations to the entire ISRO team for making the mission happen,” he said in his post-launch address from the Mission Control Centre.
Today’s success came after the GSLV F10 “debacle”, he said referring to the anomaly in the cryogenic stage of the launch vehicle in August 2021, following which the then mission could not be fufilled.
This was the first of five of such satellites to be launched.
Just short of 20 minutes after the rocket took off, it deployed the 2,232 kg satellite into the intended Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) at an altitude of about 251 km.
It is for the first time that an indigenously developed rubidium atomic clock was used in a mission. Earlier, the scientists earlier opted for imported ones. The Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre developed the clock, which ISRO said was significant as only a handful of countries possessed this important technology.
GSLV-F12/NVS-01 Mission Director N P Giri said the GSLV has the capability to launch satellites with bigger payloads.
“The last flight GSLV-F10 anomaly was heartbreaking for all of us and because of the constant encouragement by ISRO Chairman, the cryo-stage was modified…there has been excellent support from Centre directors (of ISRO) for bringing back the GSLV,” he said.
ISRO’s satellite director for Monday’s mission KVS Bhaskar, while extending his congratulations to the ISRO team, said, “I do believe that the naughty boy (GSLV) is fully tamed. All of us have been looking forward to the launch of NVS-01. This L1 band will be interoperable and we have also included an indigenous atomic clock.”
U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) Director M Sankaran said that following the successful launch of the navigation satellite, the solar panels were deployed and it was ready for the next operation to raise its orbit.
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) Director V Narayanan said the GSLV rocket has seven propulsion systems and all worked in a “very synchronised way”. “Today’s performance reveals that the cryo-stage performance was normal and as expected,” he said.
“The L1 navigation band is popular for providing position, navigation and timing services for civilian users and for interoperability with other GNSS (global navigation satellite system) signals,” ISRO said.
NavIC offers two services — Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users and Restricted Service for strategic users.
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