NEW DELHI: Isro is working to make India’s own regional navigation system (NaVIC) easily accessible to civilians soon, as the accurate positioning system was till now confined to strategic use, said Pawan Goenka, chairman of space regulator and promoter INSPACe. He said “by 2025, Isro will target to launch a dozen satellites every year, including six GSLV launches“, to fulfil growing demand of the space sector.
“We are introducing seven navigation satellites with new L1 band that will make NaVIC signals accessible in civilians’ mobile phones with a compatible chipset. Of the seven, one satellite has already been launched. Navigation satellites launched earlier worked on different bands (L5 and S),” Goenka informed during a media roundtable.
He said NaVIC (Navigation With Indian Constellation) is more accurate than other navigation systems in the world and govt is working to widen its reach.
NaVIC provides positioning accuracy of better than 10 metre throughout India and better than 20 metre for the area surrounding India by 1,500 km.
Announcements of creation of INSPACe, space policy and FDI policy have given a much-needed boost to the sector, the chairman said, adding, “our next objective is to bring in space law, which the country doesn’t have”. “We have prepared the first draft and will send it for consultation and then it will go to the ministry for clearance before cabinet approval. The entire process will be completed by either end of this year or by the first quarter of next year,” he said.
To grab a lion’s share of the $5.2 billion global small satellite market, Isro is planning to focus on small launchers and satellites, Goenka said. Isro’s mini-launcher SSLV has, thus, been developed for this purpose and its technology will be transferred to the private sector in the next two years.