The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) marked a significant milestone on Wednesday morning with the successful launch of its 100th GSLV rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The GSLV-F15, carrying the NVS-02 navigation satellite, lifted off from Sriharikota at 6:23 a.m.
The launch of NVS-02 was the first mission of ISRO in 2025 and also the first for V. Narayanan, who recently assumed office as the Indian space agency's chairman.
Narayanan said he was extremely happy to announce that ISRO's first venture in 2025 was a success.
The satellite was "precisely injected into the required (GTO) orbit. This mission is the 100th launch, which is a very significant milestone," he said in his address post the successful launch.
"In this mission, the data has come; all vehicle systems are normal," Narayanan added.
The satellite is the second in the series of the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), aimed at providing accurate position, velocity, and timing to users in the Indian subcontinent as well as regions about 1,500 km beyond the Indian landmass.
The GSLV-F15 follows the GSLV-F12 mission, which successfully carried NVS-01, the first of the second-generation navigation satellites, on May 29, 2023.
The key applications of the NVS-02 satellite are terrestrial, aerial, and maritime navigation, precision agriculture, fleet management, location-based services in mobile devices, orbit determination for satellites, Internet of Things (IoT)-based applications, and emergency and timing services, ISRO said.
NavIC comprises five second-generation satellites¡ªNVS-01/02/03/04/05¡ªenvisaged to augment the NavIC base layer constellation with enhanced features for ensuring continuity of services.
The NVS-02 satellite, designed and developed by Bengaluru-based U. R. Rao Satellite Centre, weighs about 2,250 kg. It has a navigation payload in L1, L5, and S bands and employs a tri-band antenna.
GSLV-F15 is the 17th flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and the 11th flight with an indigenous cryogenic stage. It is the 8th operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic stage. The GSLV-F15 payload fairing is a metallic version with a diameter of 3.4 metres.
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