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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

3rd navigation Satellite ( IRNSS-1C) launched by India on 16th October, 2014

The third navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C was launched by India on thursday early morning at 01:32 hrs IST ( 16th October, 2014).  The ISRO's work horse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV gave the country and the ISRO yet another text book launch at exactly 20.25 minutes after the PSLV-C26 lifted off with IRNSS-1C Satellite from Sriharikota at 01:32 hrs IST.  The spacecraft was placed into its intended orbit.

The IRNSS-1C is a part of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) which is a constellation of Geosynchronous satellites which the ISRO has been deploying to provide navigation data to India and the surrounding region.  The first satellite of the series IRNSS-1A was launched last July with seven satellites scheduled for completion by end of 2015.

The IRNSS-1C has a total mass of 1,425 Kgs including the weight of the fuel.  The spacecraft has a mass of only 600 Kgs without fuel.  The remaining 825 Kg is the weight taken up by the propellant for the apogee motors and manoeuvring engines.  The spacecraft is designed for a life period of 10 years operations.  The spacecraft generates 1600 watts of power through its twin solar arrays.  The satellite broadcasts L5 and S band navigation signals.  

This is the 27th successful mission of PSLV.  Hon'ble Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh witnessed the launch from the Mission Control Center at Sriharikota.   After the lift-off of PSLV-C26 with the ignition of the first stage, the important flight events, namely, stage and strap-on ignitions, heat-shield separation, stage and strap-on separations and satellite injection, took place as planned. After a flight of about 20 minutes 18 seconds, IRNSS-1C Satellite, weighing 1425 kg, was injected to an elliptical orbit of 282.56 km X 20,670 km, which is very close to the intended orbit.