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Navic

 

Topics Covered:

  1. Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

 

Navic

What to study?

For Prelims: Navic and its key features.

For Mains: Significance, applications and potential of Navic.

 

Context: US Congress has consented to designate India’s Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC) as its “allied” navigational satellite system along with the Galileo of the European Union and QZSS of Japan.

 

What is NAVIC?

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland.

 

Services provided:

IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Services available to all users and Restricted Services provided to authorised users.

 

Its applications include:

  1. Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation.
  2. Disaster Management.
  3. Vehicle tracking and fleet management.
  4. Integration with mobile phones.
  5. Precise Timing.
  6. Mapping and Geodetic data capture.
  7. Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers.
  8. Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

 

How many satellites does NAVIC consist of? 

It is a regional system and so its constellation will consist of seven satellites. Three of these will be geostationary over the Indian Ocean, i.e., they will appear to be stationary in the sky over the region, and four will be geosynchronous – appearing at the same point in the sky at the same time every day.

This configuration ensures each satellite is being tracked by at least one of fourteen ground stations at any given point of time, with a high chance of most of them being visible from any point in India.

 

Why it is necessary to have indigenous global navigation system?

Having a global navigation system bolsters the ability of a nation to serve as a net security provider, especially through the guarantee of such assurance policies. It can also play a significant role in relief efforts post disasters such as the tsunami in the Indian Ocean region in 2004 and the Pakistan-India earthquake in 2005.

NAVIC

Sources: the Hindu.