ISRO Chief: Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) expected to provide positional accuracy of more than 20 meters across India and over an extended region of 2,000 km
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    • In a bid to enhance the country’s security system, ISRO Chief Mr. K. Madhavan Nair stated that the Indian Space Research Organization was developing a set of seven satellites. This constellation of satellites - known as the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), was expected to provide positional accuracy of more than 20 meters across India and over an extended region of 2,000 km. While three of the satellites will be placed in the geostationary orbit, four will be placed near the geostationary orbit to ensure that all seven satellites would have continuous radio visibility with the Indian control stations. The satellite payloads, to consist of atomic clocks and electronic equipment to generate the navigational signals, will boost surveillance against infiltration in mountainous terrain as well as improve surveillance capabilities over the sea1.

    ISRO is also expected to start its own mapping service – ‘Bhuvan’, on the lines of Google Earth to enable personal computer users the option of securing data using satellite imagery2. The mapping service will help users gain access to imaging data across any part of the Subcontinent, with the exception of sensitive installations such as military and nuclear facilities. The imagery for the service will be provided by ISRO’s network of seven remote sensing satellites which can provide three-dimensional imagery of objects the size of a car. The images generated by Bhuvan will have a resolution of 10 meters which is higher than the 200 meter resolution provided by Google Earth. However, while Google Earth allows users to download imagery, Bhuvan does not provide this option.

    ISRO Chief K. Madhavan Nair stated that ISRO has finished the design of the Chandrayaan-2 moon mission. Russia will also be collaborating in the country’s second lunar probe. The mission will have a lander and rover to collect soil samples from the surface of the moon3.

    For the lunar transfer trajectory (LTT), the Chandrayaan-2 will have an orbital vehicle that carries an orbital craft and a lunar craft. Using data from the Chandrayaan-1 moon mission launched in October 2008, the precise locations for the lander-rover craft will be ascertained. While India will develop the orbital vehicle, Russia will provide the lander and the rover. ISRO will also solicit bids from the international scientific community for additional payloads.

    ISRO officials pointed out that since the Chandrayaan-1 mission failed with regard to redundancy and thermal management, Chandrayaan-2 mission will redress the failure. Mr. Nair stated that the requisite rectifications were being done to prevent the recurrence of another failure for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Even in the case of the Chandrayaan-1, ISRO pointed out that nearly 95 per cent of the mission’s objectives were accomplished.

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