PSLV deploys next satellite for Indian navigation network

An Indian navigation satellite lifted off Thursday aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, heading for a perch more than 22,000 miles over Africa to grow the country’s independent space-based positioning fleet. The sixth spacecraft in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System launched at 1031 GMT (5:31 a.m. EST) Thursday from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, an island spaceport about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Chennai on India’s east coast. The 44-meter (145-foot) PSLV XL, boosted by six enlarged strap-on solid rocket motors, soared east from the launch base over the Bay of Bengal, surpassing the speed of sound in less than a minute on more than 2 million pounds of thrust. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 11)