Trisha Ghosh, Pune
ISRO has announced that it has planned to extend the coverage of NaVIC – which is the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System – much beyond Indian borders into territories of countries in the South Asian (or SAARC) regions. News of this development was shared at an event held at Bharat Mandapam by the space agency’s Chairman.
The primary aim of this initiative is to increase India’s technological prowess and achieve its strategic goals regarding affirmative geopolitical progress. NaVIC’s signals extending beyond Indian soil will positively impact a large number of people from various countries as a result, particularly because the satellite system facilitates numerous important processes in various sectors.
NaVIC has 7 different satellites combined with multiple ground stations which all continuously operate as a network every hour of the day. Ground stations also include control centers and facilities that monitor factors such as the range and timing of these satellites. Now, in order to boost coverage in foreign regions, ISRO is planning to launch more satellites that will be able to reach a decided point of approximately 3000 kilometers beyond Indian borders. Furthermore, as of now, NaVIC provides services to different users. They are of two types- the first being civilians using the navigation system for daily purposes and the second being services that can be accessed specifically for strategic reasons such as military forces and security reasons.
NaVIC is said to be an important factor to facilitate India’s security and plans for economic growth and development. It operates power grids, gives information in real-time regarding train networks and other modes of transport to ensure public welfare, contributes to safety measures for fishermen and even the process of geofencing. ISRO may also use NaVIC to ensure the authentication and enrollment of the Aadhaar identification card, allowing the functioning of emergency services and systems and for navigation of unmanned transportation.
It is also notably important that NaVIC’s SPS signals are interoperable satellite navigation systems from other countries including the USA’s GPS and China’s BeiDou.
As ISRO continues to propagate advancements in new and already-existing technologies, the space agency helps further and expand India’s geopolitical influence, its economic goals, national security in the long run and moreover, valuable innovations in various sectors.