IRNSS 1C launch deferred by a week: ISRO

Bangalore, Oct 6: The launch of IRNSS 1C, the third satellite in the series of seven to put in place India's own navigation system on par with US' Global Positioning System, scheduled for October 10, has been deferred by a week, ISRO said today.

As the 67-hour countdown for the launch from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh was to commence at 7 am tomorrow, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on its Facebook page, "Due to an observation in the telemetry system, the launch has been postponed for a week."

IRNSS 1C with a lift-off mass of 1,425.4 kg was earlier scheduled to take off on board the 28th flight of India's rocket PSLV-C26 at 1.56 am on October 10 to be shot into a sub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (sub GTO).

ISRO plans to send seven satellites to put in place the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), which is similar to US' Global Positioning System, Russia's Glonass and Europe's Galileo.

IRNSS is designed to give India its own indigenous air navigation system, to provide information on location and time in all weather conditions with its applications including terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management.

The first two satellites in the series, IRNSS 1A and IRNSS 1B were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013 and April 4 this year respectively.

ISRO needs to launch at least four of the seven satellites to start operations of the IRNSS.

PTI