Article Posted on : - Oct 06, 2014

IRNSS-1C being assembled with PSLV-C26. Photo: ISRO.

CHENNAI (PTI): The 67-hour countdown for the launch of IRNSS 1C, the third satellite in the series of seven to put in place India's own navigation system on par with US' Global Positioning System, would commence at the spaceport of Sriharikota on Tuesday.

"The 67-hour countdown till 1.56 AM on the launch date of October 10 would commence around 7 AM on Tuesday," ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik told PTI.

IRNSS 1C with a lift-off mass of 1,425.4 kg would be launched on the 28th flight of India's PSLV-C26 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 100 km from here. Like the launch of earlier similar missions of IRNSS 1A and IRNSS 1B, this mission would be launched on XL version of the PSLV.

The satellite would be launched into a sub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (sub GTO) with a 284 km perigee (nearest point to Earth) and 20,650 km apogee (farthest point to Earth) with an inclination of 17.86 degree with respect to the equatorial plane.

As part of its aspirations to build a regional navigational system equivalent to Global Positioning System of the US, ISRO plans to send seven satellites to put in place the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).

The first two satellites in the series, IRNSS 1A and IRNSS 1B were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013 and April 4 this year respectively.

ISRO needs to launch at least four of the seven satellites to start operations of the IRNSS, ISRO officials said.

Being developed by India, IRNSS is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in the country as well as the region extending upto 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.

IRNSS' applications include terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management.

IRNSS is similar to US' Global Positioning System, Russia's Glonass and Europe's Galileo. China and Japan also have similar systems, 'Beidou' and 'Quasi Zenith', ISRO officials said.