Article Posted on : - Nov 28, 2014

CHENNAI (PTI): The health of IRNSS 1C satellite, launched last month by India as part of its efforts to put in place an indigenous navigation system on par with the GPS of the US, is normal, according to Indian Space Research Organisation.

"The health of IRNSS -1C spacecraft is normal. All the subsystems are functioning normally. The characterisation of navigation payloads and TTC systems were completed and the navigation information are regularly sent to the spacecraft," ISRO said in its latest update on its website about the satellite launched on October 16.

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

IRNSS-1C, the third of the seven navigation satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment was launched in the early hours of October 16. IRNSS-1A and IRNSS-1B were launched by ISRO in July 2013 and April 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's 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', the officials said.