ISRO today announced that it has successful deployed NVS-01, the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services by GSLV-F12 vehicle, after a failure with GSLV-F10 in August 2021.
NVS series of satellites will sustain and augment the NavIC with enhanced features. This series incorporates L1 band signals additionally to widen the services. For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock will be flown in NVS-01.
The lift-off took place on Monday, 29 May 2023 at 10.42am local time. The NVS-01 navigation satellite weighs about 2232 kg and carries navigation for providing PNT (Position, Navigation and Timing) payloads operating in L1, L5 and S bands.
The mission life of NVS-01 is expected to be better than 12 years. As compared to the first generation satellite series, the second-generation satellite series includes L1 Navigation band and encompasses indigenously developed Rubidium atomic clock. Currently, there are eight first generation NavIC satellites in orbit.
The L1 navigation band is popular for providing PNT (Position, Navigation and Timing) services for civilian users and for interoperability with other GNSS signals. The space-qualified Rubidium atomic clock, indigenously developed by Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, is an important technology which only a handful of countries possess.
ISRO has plans for five more second-generation NVS satellites.