The successful launch of India’s second navigation satellite using its flagship launch vehicle PSLV could be beneficial not only to the country but to its neighbouring nations as well, said John P. Zachariah, Director, research and development wing of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
On completion, the system would provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, both on the eastern and western sides. That way, this would revolutionise the location finding and visual navigation business across the entire region”, he told media persons here on Saturday.
The constellation of seven satellites, the launch of which is scheduled for completion in 2015, is due for a trail run from the beginning of 2016 and will begin full-scale operation a couple of months later. “Along with that, there will be a sudden rise in wide-spread use of the application, in turn, leading to the commercial production of receiver equipment”, he said.
Regarding the progress of the GSLV MARC III project, Mr. Zachariah said that an experimental flight of the vehicles was conducted in the last week of June from Sreeharikotta. The vehicle would be carrying a dummy instead of the cryo stage but would have original structural and thermo-structural parts.
The test flight was being conducted to assess whether its structural and thermal protection systems would withstand the re-entry load, and thermo-dynamic heating.
Meanwhile, he also said that the launch of the second Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, which also marked the 25th success in a row for the PSLV, had boosted the image of the launching vehicle in the global arena. “The PSLV is going miles, as evident from the launching orders we are getting from foreign countries, thanks to its quality and dependability”, he said.
