New Navic satellite

General Studies Paper 3

Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first of the second-generation satellites for its navigation constellation successfully.

• Christened NVS-01, the first of ISRO’s NVS series of payloads is the heaviest in the constellation and was launched by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket from Sriharikota.
• Each of the seven satellites currently in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation, operationally named NavIC, weighed much less.

Features of Second-generation NavIC satellite

• Atomic Clock:The satellite will have a Rubidium atomic clock onboard, a significant technology developed by India which only a handful of countries possess.
  • The satellite-based positioning system determines the location of objects by using the atomic clocks on board; failure of clocks means the satellites are no longer able to provide accurate locations.
  • Several of the existing satellites stopped providing location data after their onboard atomic clocks failed — this was the main reasonfor the launch of the replacement satellite in 2018.
• L1 signals for better use in wearable devices:The second generation satellites will send signals in a third frequency, L1, besides the L5 and S frequency signals that the existing satellites provide, increasing interoperability with other satellite-based navigation systems.
  • The L1 frequency is among the most commonly used in the Global Positioning System (GPS), and will increase the use of the regional navigation system in wearable devices and personal trackers that use low-power, single-frequency chips.
• Longer mission life:The second-generation satellites will also have a longer mission life of more than 12 years. The existing satellites have a mission life of 10 years.

Practical purpose of the NAvIC constellation 

• NavIC is in use for projects like public vehicle safety, power grid synchronisation, real-time train information systems, and fishermen’s safety. 
• Other upcoming initiatives such as common alert protocol based emergency warning, time dissemination, geodetic network, and unmanned aerial vehicles are in the process of adopting the NavIC system.
• Some cell phone chipsets such as the ones built by Qualcomm and MediaTek integrated NavIC receivers in 2019.

Significant Features of regional navigation system

• There are four global satellite-based navigation systems — the American GPS, the Russian GLONASS (GLObalnaya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema), the European Galileo, and the Chinese Beidou. Japan has a four-satellite system that can augment GPS signals over the country, similar to India’s GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation).
• NavIC is better than GPS in some aspects. While GPS can get you within 20 metres of your target, NaVIC is more accurate and can get you even closer—within 5 metres. 
  • For individual users, this might not be significant but for military equipment like guided missiles, it is crucial.
• However, unlike GPS, which can be used anywhere in the world, NaVIC is regional and can only be used within India and up to 1,500 km from its borders.
• NavIC uses satellites in high geo-stationery orbit— the satellites move at a constant speed relative to Earth, so they are always looking over the same region on Earth.
• NavIC signals come to India at a 90-degree angle,making it easier for them to reach devices located even in congested areas, dense forests, or mountains.
• With the use of NavIC picking up, the government has been looking at the possibility of increasing the coverage area of the system.