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Modi calls navigation system gift' to 125 crore people

It was a time for celebration at SHAR with the seventh and last IRNSS satellite in place, paving the way for India's own GPS system.

Nellore: With the launch of the seventh and last satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System on Thursday from Sriharikota, India joined a select club of countries with their own global positioning systems.

The PSLV in its 35th flight, placed the 1,485-kg satellite in orbit 20 minutes after launch at 12.50 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the live telecast of the launch from Delhi, christened the system Navic, or Navigation with Indian Satellite Constellation.

An elated Modi spoke about the benefits of the country’s very own navigation system for terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management, disaster management and integration with mobile phones.

The receiver, which is bigger than a mobile phone, will show the latitude, longitude and altitude as per mean sea level. Mobile phones currently in use are equipped with built-in antennae and chips to receive GPS signals.The receiver, which is bigger than a mobile phone, will show the latitude, longitude and altitude as per mean sea level. Mobile phones currently in use are equipped with built-in antennae and chips to receive GPS signals.

“With this successful launch, we will determine our own paths powered by our technology. This is a great gift to 125 crore people of the country by scientists. Through space science, lives of people can be transformed and our scientists have achieved many accomplishments in space science,” the PM said.

He observed that Isro scientists had also helped the other Saarc nations as well in an obvious reference to the IRNSS system, which is expected to provide position accuracy of better than 20 meter over India and an area extending about 1500 sq km around India.Also, it was a time for celebration at SHAR with the seventh and last IRNSS satellite in place, paving the way for India’s own GPS system.

Isro said the navigation system had become essential because access to foreign government-controlled navigation satellite systems could be restricted in hostile situations. The IRNSS envisages establishment of a navigation system using a mix of Geostationary Earth Or-bit (GEO) and Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) satellites. The IRNSS constellation comprises three GEO and four GSO satellites.

It will provide two types of services, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) — provided to all users, and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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