Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System
| Country/ies of origin |
 India
|
|---|---|
| Operator(s) | ISRO |
| Type | Military, Commercial |
| Status | Operational |
| Coverage | Regional (up to 1,500 km from borders) |
| Accuracy | 10 m (public) 0.1 m (encrypted) |
| Constellation size | |
| Total satellites | 7 |
| Satellites in orbit | 7 |
| First launch | 1 July 2013 |
| Last launch | 28 April 2016 12:50 pm IST |
| Total launches | 7 (All Successful) |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Regime(s) | High Earth |
| Orbital height | 36,000 km (22,000 mi) |
| Other details | |
| Cost | $212 million |
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) with an operational name of NAVIC ("sailor" or "navigator" in Sanskrit, Hindi and many other Indian languages, which also stands for NAVigation with Indian Constellation) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that is being set up by India, that will be used to provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services over India and the region extending to 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) around India. The NAVIC system will consist of a constellation of 3 satellites in Geostationary orbit (GEO), 4 satellites in Geosynchronous orbit (GSO), approximately 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) altitude above earth surface, and two satellites on the ground as stand-by, in addition to ground stations. The system was developed because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 when it was dependent on the American Global Positioning System (GPS) during the Kargil War. The Indian government approved the project in May 2006.
The constellation of seven NAVIC satellites is already in orbit and the system is expected to be operational from September 2016, after a system check. NAVIC will provide two levels of service, the standard positioning service will be open for civilian use, and a restricted service (an encrypted one) for authorized users (including the military).
As part of the project, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) opened a new satellite navigation center within the campus of ISRO Deep Space Network (DSN) at Byalalu, in Karnataka on 28 May 2013. A network of 21 ranging stations located across the country will provide data for the orbital determination of the satellites and monitoring of the navigation signal.
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