India to Launch New Satellite to Reduce Reliance on US GPS

This evening, India’s space agency plans to launch a navigation satellite to strengthen its own national alternative to the GPS system.

DW reports.

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the NVS-03 satellite is intended, among other things, to ensure continuity of navigation services.

NVS-03—the third spacecraft in ISRO’s new-generation series of navigation satellites—will be placed into orbit by the GSLV-F18 launch vehicle.

The launch is scheduled for Friday at 20:21 Kyiv time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island.

The satellite is equipped with an Indian-made atomic clock (alongside imported equivalents) and adds a new L1 signal to the existing L5 and S-band signals. It is designed to provide navigation coverage across the whole of India, as well as areas up to 1,500 kilometres beyond its borders.

NavIC is seen as an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is owned by the United States government.

• The system was developed to reduce India’s dependence on foreign navigation systems. However, as the Hindustan Times writes, the programme has repeatedly faced difficulties—particularly failures of atomic clocks, as well as problems with launching and deploying satellites.