‘India launches indigenous GPS‘
Iran Press TV
Tue Jul 2, 2013 8:40AM GMT
India has launched the first of its seven indigenous satellite navigation systems, Indian space centre says.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), sent into space on Tuesday, provides services to the public and the military.
"The (Indian) system has been indigenously built to provide accurate position or location information services to users across the country and up to 1,500 kilometres (937 miles) away from our borders," director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Devi Prasad karnik said.
A rocket, carrying the first satellite took off in the early hours of Tuesday from a site in the southeastern Andhra Pradesh, Sriharikota and was put into equatorial orbit 20 minutes later, Karnik explained.
"The remaining six navigational satellites will be launched at every six months once fully operational by 2015," The space agency stated.
The Indian satellite navigation, similar to the US Global Positioning System (GPS), was launched months after China inaugurated its own domestic satellite network.
The cost of the project has been estimated of about USD 238.6 million. The government has been criticized for the heavy cost, as the country is wrestling with poverty and malnutrition.
MM/HN
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
