Proud Moment For India: ISRO's NAVIC Satellite Navigation System Gets Salute From United States

India¡¯s space endeavours have been reaching new heights every day. A few days back ISRO launched a new rocket to space, putting a bunch of satellites in India¡¯s orbit and now, India¡¯s home-grown NAVIC has been designated as allied¡± navigational satellite system by the United States Congress.

Reuters

It is now the third allied navigation satellite system after the European Union¡¯s Galileo and Japan¡¯s QZSS.

This approval was a part of the conference report of the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2020 where it also designated Russia¡¯s GLONASS and China¡¯s Beidou as ¡®non-allied systems.¡¯

This basically means that US SATNAV systems won¡¯t share data or take help with these systems, due to security and privacy concerns.

While the NDAA has provided its approval, a formal approval awaits by the House and the Senate before it is sent to the White House where it will be made into a law.

Designating NAVIC as an allied system is America¡¯s effort to create a prototype program for a multi-global navigation satellite system receiver.

NAVIC was developed by ISRO and in 2016 it sent in space the last two satellites of a network of seven navigational satellites as a part of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) program.

Reuters

Together they make up a constellation of geosynchronous and geostationary satellites that offer navigation ability for both civilian and military purposes. The total cost to the government was Rs 1,420 crore.

Recently, Qualcomm also had announced its partnership with the Indian Space Research Organization, offering it support for the IRNSS and Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC) platforms.

A few select chipsets from their upcoming portfolio will support the new GPS alternative, allowing India to accelerate the adoption of our own home-grown satellite navigation system.