ISRO on GPS and Chadrayan

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is developing an India-specific navigation system in the lines of the Global Positioning System (GPS) at an investment of about Rs 1,600 crore. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), comprising seven satellites, will be ready in 2011-12, Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Thursday.

The indigenously developed system will serve the country’s specific needs, providing infrastructure for generating data on position, navigation and timing. The data can also be used for various other applications such as agriculture, civil aviation and fisheries.
"We have already begun work on the system. It will be totally under our control. As part of the project, three satellites would be placed in the geo-synchronous transfer orbit, while the remaining four would be in geo-stationary orbit," Mr Nair said.
At present, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is controlled by the US defence department. Russia is also in the process of restoring its own navigation system of 24 satellites, Glonass, by 2009. Besides, Europe is building a satellite navigation system, Galileo, consisting of 30 satellites, which would be ready in 2012-13.
For next year’s Chandrayaan 1 mission, Isro may co-operate with Japanese Aerospace Exploratory Agency (Jaxa). “Jaxa’s lunar mission will take off soon and we are looking at using their data for our lunar mission. In return, we have offered them the tracking facility,” Mr Nair said.


Courtesy:Economics Times
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