SRIHARIKOTA - ANDHRA PRADESH: Countdown Starts for GSLV-F15/NVS-02 Mission: The 27-hour countdown for Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) landmark 100th mission began on Tuesday (January 28, 2025). This mission will involve the launch of a Navigation satellite on a GSLV rocket. It is also a significant moment as it marks the first mission under ISRO Chairman V Narayanan, who took office on January 13. The mission is set to lift off at 6.23 am, on January 29 from the second launch pad.

The GSLV rocket, which stands 50.9 meters tall, will carry the NVS-02 satellite, the second in the series of Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). The NavIC system is designed to provide precise position, speed, and timing information to users in the Indian subcontinent, as well as to areas up to 1,500 kilo-meter beyond Indian borders.

The countdown, lasting 27.5 hours, began at 2.53 am on today. This launch follows the successful GSLV-F12 mission, which carried the first of the second-generation NavIC satellites, NVS-01, on May 29, 2023.

NavIC includes five second-generation satellites namely NVS-01, NVS-02, NVS-03, NVS-04, and NVS-05, which intended to enhance the NavIC system and ensure uninterrupted services.

The NVS-02 satellite, weighing around 2,250 kilogram, was developed by the U R Satellite Centre. It carries navigation payloads on L1, L5, and S bands, along with a ranging payload on the C-band, just like its predecessor, NVS-01.

The satellite will support various applications such as land, air, and sea navigation, precision farming, fleet management, location-based services for mobile devices, satellite orbit tracking, Internet of Things (IoT) applications, emergency services, and time-sensitive functions, according to ISRO.

WHAT IS  GSLV-F15/NVS-02 mission

NVS02 is part of Navigation with Indian Constellation or NavIC. One of the satellites in this network is called NVS-02. It is the second satellite of its kind, and it is designed to provide really accurate information to people in India and even up to 1,500 kilometers beyond its borders. GSLV-F15 is a 50.9-meter tall rocket consisting 3 stages with a liftoff mass of 420.7-tns. The rocket will bring into action the NVS02 satellite from its pay-load fairing, a metallic version with a diameter of 3.4-mtrs.