ISRO to launch 8th navigation satellite on April 12 from Sriharikota

The Indian Space Research Organisation will on Thursday launch a navigation satellite, the eighth such satellite to be a part of a constellation, from Sriharikota, the space agency said today.

PSLV-C41/IRNSS-1I Mission is scheduled to be launched on Thursday morning at 04:04 AM.

IRNSS-1I is expected to replace IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven navigation satellites that was rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed. The seven satellites are part of the NavIC navigation satellite constellation.

The launch will be ISRO's second attempt at sending a replacement satellite.

The previous mission of a PSLV carrying IRNSS-1H in August last year failed after the heat shield covering the satellite failed to separate.

"India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty-third flight (PSLV-C41) in XL configuration will launch IRNSS-1I Satellite from First Launch Pad (FLP) of SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Centre), Sriharikota," the ISRO said.

The IRNSS-1I mission will take place two weeks after the space agency launched GSAT-6A on board GSLV Mk-II. Though the rocket placed GSAT-6A in orbit, ISRO lost communication with the satellite.

Last month on March 29, India’s premier space agency had successfully placed into orbit its latest communication satellite GSAT-6A launched on board its geosynchronous rocket GSLV-F08 from the Sriharikota spaceport.

The successful launch came after the 27-hour countdown that began a day before. It was only after successful completion of the countdown that the 49.1-metre Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08), fitted with indigenously developed cryogenic third stage, lifted off from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 4.56 pm and soared majestically into the clear sky.

The satellite, with a mission life of about 10 years, would provide thrust to mobile communication through multi-beam coverage facility, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. In a text-book launch, about 18 minutes later, the rocket injected GSAT-6A into the geostationary transfer orbit as the ISRO scientists broke into celebrations at the mission control centre.