(a) whether Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch its own Global Positioning System;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the expenditure incurred on the project; and
(d) the details of the benefits of such a project?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
(DR. JITENDRA SINGH):
(a) & (b)
No Madam. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has deployed an indigenous regional positioning system for India named as “Navigation with Indian Constellation” (NavIC). It consists of seven satellites in a constellation to provide Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) services in Indian mainland and surrounding region up to 1500 Km. It provides two types of services viz. Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS).
All the seven satellites of the constellation have been placed in designated orbits. The ground segment comprising of 15 Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Station, 2 Navigation Centres, Network Timing Facility with redundancy and 1 Satellite Control Facility have been established.
(c) A budget of Rs.1420 Crore has been approved by the Government for the realisation of the system including 7 in-orbit satellites, 2 satellites as ground spare and associated ground segment. As on February 2017, the expenditure incurred is about Rs.1278 Crore.
(d) The benefits of NavIC system include – (i) establishing India’s own independent navigational satellite system providing position, navigation and timing services and (ii) enabling applications in the areas viz. terrestrial, aerial & marine navigation, precise timing services, vehicle tracking, fleet management, mapping survey and geodetic data capture, disaster management support.
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