PSLV - C22/IRNSS – 1A Mission

PSLV - C22 successfully launches India's first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A on Jul 01, 2013

PSLV - C22 / IRNSS – 1A Mission:

• Orbit raising maneuvers completed with fifth Apogee Motor Firing (AMF) on July 06, 2013 at 16:57 hrs (IST) and performance is normal.
• Satellite is in Geo-Synchronous Orbit (GSO) with 27 deg inclination at 44 deg E longitude.
• Present orbital parameters are: apogee 35870 km, perigee 35484 km and orbital period is 23h 50m.
• All the spacecraft subsystem is evaluated and functioning normal.

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C22, successfully launched IRNSS-1A, the first satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), in the early morning hours of today (July 2, 2013) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the twenty third consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The 'XL' configuration of PSLV was used for the mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was used thrice to launch Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and RISAT-1 satellites.

At the completion of the countdown, PSLV-C22 lifted off from the First Launch Pad at 23:41 hrs IST yesterday (July 1, 2013) with the ignition of the first stage and four strap-on motors of the launch vehicle. The important flight events, namely, stage and strap-on ignitions, heat-shield separation, stage and strap-on separations and satellite injection took place exactly as planned. After a flight of 20 minutes 17 seconds, the IRNSS-1A Satellite, weighing 1425 kg, was injected to the intended elliptical orbit of 282.46 km X 20,625.37 km.

After injection, the solar panels of IRNSS-1A were deployed automatically. ISRO's Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) assumed the control of the satellite. In the coming days, five orbit maneuvers will be conducted from Master Control Facility to position the satellite in its Geosynchronous Circular Orbit at 55 deg East longitude.

IRNSS-1A is the first of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. 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, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and Restricted Services (RS) provided only to authorised users.

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

The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2015-16.

Source: ISRO