ISRO launches India's third navigational satellite IRNSS-1C

This is the twenty seventh consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The 'XL' configuration of PSLV was used for this mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was successfully used six times, a press communiqué issued by ISRO said.

Minister of State (Space) Jitendra Singh witnessed the successful launch at SDSC.

IRNSS-1C is the third of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A and IRNSS-1B, the first two satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013 and April 04 this year respectively.

Both IRNSS-1A and 1B are functioning satisfactorily from their designated geosynchronous orbital positions.

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services -

Standard Positioning Services (SPS), provided to all users, and Restricted Services (RS) provided to authorised users.

A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control, satellite ranging and monitoring have been established in as many as 15 locations across the country.

In the coming months, the next satellite of this constellation, IRNSS-1D, is scheduled to be launched by PSLV. The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2015, the press release said.