ISRO to Launch India’s Third Navigation Satellite on October 16

India’s third navigation satellite will be launched October 16 from Sriharikota spaceport in coastal Andhra Pradesh, space agency ISRO announced Thursday.

“The 1,425kg navigation satellite (IRNSS-1C) will be launched October 16 at 1.32am IST onboard a polar rocket (PSLV-C26) from Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota,” said an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) statement. Sriharikota is about 100km northeast of Chennai.

The satellite, which was scheduled for launch Oct 10 but the launch put off by a week due to a glitch in the telemetry system, is part of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) that will have a constellation of seven satellites to provide accurate positioning service for terrestrial, aerial and maritime navigation in 1,500 km area in the Indian peninsula.

“The satellite has been integrated with the rocket and final checks are in progress. The 67-hour countdown for the launch will begin October 13 at 6.32am IST,” said the ISRO statement.

The second navigation satellite (IRNSS-1B) was launched April 4 this year from the spaceport.

The Indian system will be similar to the US Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Glonass and Europe’s Galileo constellation of navigation satellites.