The twentieth flight of the GSLV, from the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota

Background

With a new navigation satellite now working in orbit, the rocket that carried it is worth a closer look. The mission was flown by GSLV-F18, and this was the twentieth flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. The vehicle lifted off from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, which is India's spaceport on the Andhra Pradesh coast. Its payload was NVS-03, the third satellite of the next generation navigation series that keeps the IRNSS services going. The rocket released the satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, from which the satellite used its own engine to climb higher. The satellite adds an L1 signal to the L5 and S band signals of the earlier spacecraft, which makes it easier for ordinary receivers to use Indian navigation signals.