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India's plan is
to have seven satellites that will provide navigational
information over the country and upto 1,500 kilometers (932.06
miles) around the mainland, Indian Space Research Organisation
said.
The American GPS, Russia's Glonass and Europe's Galileo have
dozens of satellites to provide information across the globe.
China is also building its own global positioning system, known
as Beidou or COMPASS.
The satellite IRNSS-1E was launched into orbit by a locally
developed spacecraft from the Sriharikota space center in
southern India. Over the next few days, scientists will carry
orbital maneuvers to place the satellite into a geosynchronous
orbit, ISRO said in a statement.
Two more satellites are planned to be launched over the next
several months, it said. India's regional navigation system will
provide open navigational information to all users but also
restricted services to the military.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists
for their determination in setting up a home-grown navigational
system. "Our scientists keep making us proud," he said in a
Twitter post.
(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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