Which Satellite is Used for GPS in India?

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) also known as NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is a group of 7 satellites that provides Global positioning system (GPS) service in India. It provides real-time positioning and timing services.It covers India and a region extending 1500 km around it. NavIC will provide a standard positioning system for civilian purposes and a restricted service for military use. The need for indigenous navigation satellite system arose when Indian military faced problems during the Kargil war, which was dependent on the US global positioning system (GPS).

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How Many Satellites are there in Indian GPS?

Indian GPS system consists of a constellation of 7 satellites. The list of 7 NavIC satellites are given below.

1. IRNSS-1B – Launched in 2014
2. IRNSS – 1C – Launched in 2014
3. IRNSS – 1D – Launched in 2015
4. IRNSS – 1E – Launched in 2016
5. IRNSS – 1F – Launched in 2016
6. IRNSS – 1G – Launched in 2016
7. IRNSS – 1I – Launched in 2018.

The above 7 satellites are operational which are providing GPS services in India. Further as a long term plan, India is planning to launch a constellation of 24 satellites to provide navigation services on a global scale. It would be called the Global Indian Navigation System. As a short term plan India is planning to launch 5 more IRNSS satellites as part of Indian navigation system.

Which Country has its own GPS?

Some of the countries provide navigation systems on a global scale i.e.global positioning system (GPS),some of them provide navigation on a regional scale. The following countries have their own navigation satellite system.

1. United State GPS – World’s most used GPS system, operational from 1978. Constellation of 32 satellites.
2. Russian GLONASS – Constellation of 24 satellites.
3. European Union Galileo – Became operational in 2016, with a constellation of 30 satellites.
4. Chinese BeiDou – Currently it provides regional coverage of the Asia- Pacific region, plans to provide global coverage by 2020.
5. Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) – It is a regional satellite system covering Japan and Asia-Oceania region.
6. Indian IRNSS which is mentioned in detail in the above 2 questions.

What are the Uses of Navigation Satellite Systems (both Global Positioning System and Regional Navigation System)?

The only main difference in the navigation satellite systems of different countries is the range of coverage. Regional navigation satellite system provides services in a given geographical area and a Global Positioning System (GPS) provides services over the entire globe. The main uses of navigation satellite systems are given below.

1. Science
2. Transportation
3. Agriculture
4. Defence – an example is precise delivery of weapons to targets.

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