India launches NVS-03 to restore full NavIC positioning capability
ISRO lifted the NVS-03 navigation satellite in an effort to bring the NavIC constellation back to the four-satellite minimum needed for independent positioning, after a series of technical setbacks left the system reliant on foreign GPS for location services.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the NVS-03 satellite on Friday night from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, aiming to restore the NavIC constellation to the four operational satellites required for standalone positioning. NavIC, India’s regional navigation system, has been unable to provide location data since March because only three of its seven planned satellites are currently functional.
NavIC was created to give India an autonomous alternative to the U.S. GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, Europe’s Galileo and China’s BeiDou, especially during geopolitical tensions. While the system can still broadcast precise time signals, the lack of a fourth satellite prevents it from delivering position fixes.
"NavIC is an independent regional system over the Indian region and does not depend on other systems for providing a position service within the service region. It is fully under the control of the Government of India," an ISRO official told Hindustan Times in 2023.
"To provide basic positioning service, minimum four operational satellites are required in orbit. Hence, the NavIC constellation cannot provide standalone positioning service, however timing service is functional," Jitendra Singh, minister for the Department of Space, wrote in a parliamentary reply on July 29.
The new satellite will be placed into a transfer orbit by the GSLV-F18 rocket and then use its own propulsion to reach the final circular orbit at roughly 36,000 km altitude. NVS-03 incorporates corrective measures identified after the failure of the NVS-02 launch earlier this year, including an Indian-made atomic clock and additional procured clocks.
If NVS-03 reaches its designated slot, NavIC will again have the four-satellite minimum needed for positioning, although it will still rely on the aging IRNSS-1B satellite, launched in 2014 and now in its 13th year of operation. ISRO plans to follow up with NVS-04, NVS-05 and a further satellite within the next year to complete the seven-satellite core constellation.
Long-term, ISRO aims to expand NavIC beyond the current 1,500 km regional coverage by adding medium-earth-orbit satellites, a step that would bring the system closer to global reach.