Chennai: The countdown for the first midnight launch of an Indian navigation satellite July 1 began yesterday at Sriharikota rocket launch centre in Andhra Pradesh and is progressing smoothly, a senior official said.
“The 64.5 hour countdown for India’s first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A began at 7.11am today (Saturday). It is progressing smoothly,” a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS.
According to the ISRO official, this is the first time India is launching a rocket from its soil around midnight — the rocket launch is fixed at 11.41pm tomorrow.
“We have had late evening and early morning launches. But this is the first time ISRO is launching a rocket around midnight,” the official said.
He said ISRO chairman
K Radhakrishnan is expected to have a brief meeting with the media at the rocket port aboout 12.45am Tuesday.
The official said the launch time has been fixed taking into account the orbit and inclination at which the satellite will be injected.
Around 20 minutes into the launch, the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) will eject the navigational satellite at an altitude of 501 km.
According to ISRO, the 1,425 kg navigational satellite IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System)-1A is intended to provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management.
The satellite is one of the seven constituting the IRNSS space segment — a regional navigational system developed by India designed to provide accurate position information service to users within the country and up to 1,500km from the nation’s boundary line, ISRO said.
The planned launch of IRNSS-1A last month was put off because of a glitch.
IANS
