NEW Delhi, March 14: India’s indigenous navigation satellite system—Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)—has suffered a major setback with one of its four operational satellites reporting a failure “at the end of 10 years since its launch”, according to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System’s IRNSS 1-F, launched on March 10, 2016, failed after its last functional atomic clock malfunctioned, space department sources indicated.
At least four indigenous navigation satellites must be fully operational for the NavIC system to provide navigation services to the public and government agencies such as railways and the military.
In an official statement issued on Friday, ISRO said, “IRNSS-1F satellite launched in March 2016 has completed its design mission life of 10 years on 10th March 2026. On 13th March 2026, the procured on-board atomic clock stopped functioning. However, the satellite will continue to function in-orbit for various societal applications to provide one way broadcast messaging services.”
IRNSS-1F had already lost two of its three rubidium atomic clocks years earlier and was operating on its final backup. The clocks, critical for measuring signal travel time from satellite to receiver, are the heart of any satellite navigation system, even tiny errors can distort position data by hundreds of kilometres. (Agencies)
