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✅Why in News: Usage of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System(NavIC system) has increased in sectors like transportation and personal mobility.

🔸There is also an increase in the number of NavIC enabled smart mobile phone models in the Indian market.

▪️About Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System ( IRNSS ) 

✅IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
✅The main objective is to provide reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and its neighbourhood.
✅IRNSS is a regional and not a global navigation system.
✅Unlike the widely used GPS which includes 24 satellites, NavIC has 8 satellites and their range is within India and its adjoining regions extending up to 1,500 km from the country’s border.
✅Technically satellite systems with more satellites provide more accurate positioning information. However, compared to GPS which has a position accuracy of 20-30 metres, the NavIC is able to pinpoint location to an estimated accuracy of under 20 metres.
✅The IRNSS constellation was named as “NavIC” (Navigation with Indian Constellation) by the Prime Minister, which provides two types of services:

IRNSS is a suite of seven satellites in space. These seven satellites are

  1. IRNSS-1A, Launched on 1st July,2013
  2. IRNSS-1B, Launched on 4th April,2014
  3. IRNSS-1C, Launched on 16th October,2014
  4. IRNSS-1D, Launched on 28th March,2015
  5. IRNSS-1E, Launched on 20th January,2016
  6. IRNSS-1F, Launched on 10th March,2016
  7. IRNSS-1G, Launched on 28th April, 2016

Architecture of IRNSS

The IRNSS satellites have been designed and developed by the Indian Space Organization. It is based on the 1-1K satellite bus. The size of the spacecraft is 1.58 by 1.5 by 1.5 meters. It holds a dry mass of 598 to 614 Kilograms. After being fully fueled, each spacecraft weighs about 1,425 Kilograms.

It features two deployable solar panels that are equipped with Ultra Triple Junction Solar cells that generate a total power of 1,660 Watts. The power storage is accomplished with a single 90 Amp-hour battery, and an avionics system controls power distribution and battery charging. The platform for the satellite is three axes stabilized using a zero momentum system consisting of reaction wheels, magnetic torques as well as attitude control thrusters. A total of twelve thrusters are mounted on the vehicle. Navigation data is obtained from the Sun and Star Trackers as well as an Inertial measurement. So, The Satellite provides the precise pointing capability.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system designed to provide geospatial positioning information within the Indian sub-continent. It was developed by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization). This project was approved by the Government of India in 2006. It was intended to complete and implement its functions within 2016.

It provides accurate positioning information to users in India and to regions extending up to 1500 Kilometers from the Indian boundary. It is the primary service area. It also provides service to extended area which lies between the primary service area and the area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 degrees South to 50 degrees North, and Longitude 30 degrees East to 130 degrees East.

The main objective of developing The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System was to curtail the dependency on foreign navigation satellite system and giving India independent access to accurate navigation and timing data on a 24×7 basis.

IRNSS is almost similar to the American GPS system, with only one difference. The American GPS system is a Global Satellite Navigation whereas IRNSS is a regional satellite navigation system.


1.Standard Positioning Service (SPS) is meant for the general public.
2.Restricted Service (RS) is an encrypted service meant for authorised users and agencies