Tamil Nadu: Countdown begins for launch of India's first navigation satellite

The 64-and-a-half-hour countdown for the launch of PSLV-C22, carrying India's first dedicated navigation satellite IRNSS-1A on July 1, began on Saturday at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 80 km from Chennai.

"The 64-and-a-half-hour countdown for the launch of PSLV-C22, which will carry IRNSS-1A started on Saturday morning at 7.11 am. We are on schedule and everything is normal," ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik told reporters.

ISRO said the satellite, with navigation and ranging payloads, would provide accurate positional information to users as well as the whole region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary.

IRNSS-1A has already been mounted on an 'XL' version of the launch vehicle, ISRO's 24th mission of a PSLV. IRNSS-1A, which will be launched at 11.41 pm on July 1, is one of seven satellites constituting the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) space segment.