The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch the country's latest navigation satellite, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)-1D from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
The 1,425 kg satellite, which will be launched on March 28, will be placed in the orbit by ISRO's workhorse launching vehicle PSLV C-27. The 59.5 hours countdown for the launch began yesterday and is progressing smoothly.
Speaking in Chennai, ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar said that with the launch of the fourth satellite, a person on the ground can locate his geographical position in the Indian region.
"The countdown has started and all the activities are in progress. In this Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System we have a constellation of seven satellites. Three satellites are already operating and this one is the fourth satellite," he said.
"Once four satellites are up in space, using a receiver on ground you can independently locate yourself, you can determine your position in terms of latitude longitude and height. So this will give us independent geographic positioning system in the country," he added.
The launch was originally scheduled for March 9 but was later deferred due to an anomaly found in the telemetry transmitter.
According to reports, IRNSS-1D is fourth in the series of seven satellites, planned by ISRO to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The first three satellites in the IRNSS series were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013, April 4, 2014 and October 16, 2014 respectively.