NVS-03 settles into geosynchronous orbit, carrying an indigenous atomic clock for India's navigation system

Background

India's newest navigation satellite has reached its working orbit, and the facts behind it are worth holding on to. NVS-03 is the third satellite of the next generation series built to keep the IRNSS navigation services running. A GSLV placed it in an orbit of 170.3 km by 38,080 km on 30 October at 23:51 hours. Four orbit raising manoeuvres followed, with the spacecraft's liquid apogee motor firing for 6,164 seconds in all. It now sits in a geosynchronous orbit of 35,765 km by 36,196 km, and the satellite's health is reported normal. The satellite carries an atomic clock built in India along with clocks bought from outside. It sends out signals in the L1, L5 and S bands, and its coverage takes in the Indian landmass and a belt reaching about 1,500 km beyond the country's borders.