Article Posted on : - Mar 26, 2014

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Photo: ISRO

CHENNAI (PTI): India's latest navigational satellite IRNSS 1-B would be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 100 km from here, on April 4.

"The launch of IRNSS 1-B from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on board PSLV C-24 rocket is scheduled at 5.14 pm on April 4," ISRO sources said.

While a 52-hour countdown for the launch on April 4 would commence on April 2, a rehearsal for the launch would be held on March 29, they said.

IRNSS 1-B is the second of seven satellites planned for Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), whose applications include terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management.

ISRO had launched IRNSS 1-A, the first in the series, on July 1 last year onboard its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-22.

IRNSS is similar to the US's Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Glonass and Europe's Galileo. China and Japan too have similar systems named Beidou and Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System respectively, they said.