India Takes Satellite To The Skies As Kenya Hesitates To Pay Its Teachers

The first, out of the seven, navigation satellites which are intended to deliver a regional positioning system was launched on Tuesday in India as Kenya struggles with teachers pay.

Related to the U.S. owned Global Positioning System,IRNSS-1A and among the first of the seven satellites planned, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) was launched into space aboard PSLV-C22 which is a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organization.

The intention of the satellite is to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 kilometers around the Indian mainland. It will offer standard positioning services to all users, and coded restricted services to authorized users. The IRNSS system is expected to be accomplished by 2016.

India wants to use the system for an assortment of procedures some of which are precise timing, disaster management, mobile phone applications, vehicle tracking and fleet management, visual and voice navigation for drivers and terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation.

Among the seven satellites to be positioned for the IRNSS project, three will be in geostationary orbit, while the rest will be in inclined geosynchronous orbit. Satellites in geostationary orbit follow the direction of the rotation of the earth so as to be in the same position relative to the earth at all times.

Ground stations for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control and satellite ranging and monitoring have been set up in 15 locations across the country.

Europe is also setting up a global navigation satellite system called Galileo, which will inter-operate with the U.S. GPS and Russian GLONASS global satellite navigation systems.

The IRNSS is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 meters in the major service area. The mission life of the satellites is 10 years, ISRO said.

UPDATE: Kenya was at the same level of economic development as the Asian tigers but has long been left behind due to governance issues.