ISRO's first midnight launch to happen tonight - Daily News & Analysis

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which has been involved in over 100 missions will for the first time in its 50 years old history will launch a satellite in the night on Monday at 11.40 pm from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. When the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV- C22 blasts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at 11.40 pm on Monday with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1A) it will be for the first time that the space agency will be launching a satellite at night. ISRO's past launches have been spread throughout the day with some of them taking place in early morning, noon and even late evening. An ISRO spokesperson told dna that the almost midnight launch has been scheduled taking into account the orbit and inclination at which the satellite will be injected into the space. "Also the season of the year has been taken into account for having a midnight launch. If the satellite was to be launched a few months later then it would have been an early morning one," he said. The IRNSS-1A is the first dedicated Indian Navigation Satellite. In total seven satellites of the IRNSS constellation will be launched and the full constellation will be up during 2014 timeframe. According to ISRO, the IRNSS is designed to provide accurate position information service for terrestrial (cars, goods transport, buses) aerial (flights) and maritime (shipping) navigation for users in India as well as neighbouring regions extending up to 1,500 km from India's borders/boundaries, which will be its primary service area. The IRNSS will provide two types of services: Standard Positioning Service (SPS) for all users; and Restricted Service (RS), an encrypted service provided only to authorised users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area. This means if your vehicle is at point A on the ground, the error would go only as far as 20 metres, and not more -- which is pretty accurate in terms of navigational aspects. The IRNSS-1A will be placed in an inclined geosynchronous orbit at 55 degree East longitude with an inclined orbit of 29 degrees with respect to the equator. The satellite will be positioned at 36,000 Kms altitude. An inclined geosynchronous orbit means that the satellite's orbital plane will be tipped to some number of degrees from the horizontal as compared to the equator. In such cases although the satellite will be geosynchronous (completing one revolution around Earth along with Earth's rotation), it will not be geostationary (fixed in space at one point in relation with a location on Earth). The entire IRNSS satellite constellation will compromise of three satellites geostationary orbits and four in inclined geosynchronous orbits, of which IRNSS-1A is the first one. Applications of IRNSS: Terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, integration with mobile phones, precise timing, mapping and geodetic data capture, terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers, and visual and voice navigation for drivers. via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEyXCR5EU3-vrKepPkh9iENhj9MAg&url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1855215/report-isro-s-first-midnight-launch-to-happen-tonight

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