ISRO achieves milestone with 100th launch; GSLV-F15 places NVS-02 in orbit

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) marked a significant milestone with the successful launch of its GSLV-F15 rocket, carrying the NVS-02 satellite, at 6:23 AM from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

This launch is ISRO’s 100th from the country’s spaceport. GSLV-F15 is the 17th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and the 11th flight featuring the Indigenous Cryo stage.

This marks the 8th operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous Cryogenic stage, and its payload fairing is a metallic version with a 3.4-meter diameter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/100thLaunch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#100thLaunch</a>:<br>Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/isro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@isro</a> for achieving the landmark milestone of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/100thLaunch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#100thLaunch</a> from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sriharikota?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sriharikota</a>. <br>It’s a privilege to be associated with the Department of Space at the historic moment of this record feat.<br>Team <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISRO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ISRO</a>, you have once again made India proud with… <a href="https://t.co/lZp1eV4mmL">pic.twitter.com/lZp1eV4mmL</a></p>&mdash; Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJitendraSingh/status/1884409343807730132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ISRO stated that the GSLV-F15, equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic stage, is designed to place the NVS-02 satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

A number of students had the rare chance to witness the historic launch from close to the launchpad, their excitement palpable as they experienced this momentous event.

Teerth, a student from Gujarat, shared his enthusiasm with ANI, saying, "I came from my college to witness the 100th launch, I am really excited. ISRO is not launching various foreign countries' satellites, so we are generating income from that also, so it is a really impressive step from the Indian government and ISRO."

Avinash, from Bihar, who was attending a launch for the first time, expressed his excitement, saying, "Really excited about it, we are here to witness the takeoff. All the best to the scientists and anyone else who have worked on this. We are really excited for this, this is the first time I get to witness this, we had been trying for four years to witness this and finally we got the chance."

On Tuesday, Nilesh Desai, Director of the Space Applications Centre (SAC)/ISRO, explained that the launch would enhance India's Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), increasing its satellites from 4 to 5.

Desai stated, "We are going to launch at 6:23 am this GSLV-F-15 mission which will carry the NVS-02 satellite into orbit. Finally, it will be put in the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres and it will increase the number of satellites of our navigation constellation from 4 to 5 and that will improve the overall accuracy of the positioning which we get from this navigation satellite."

The IRNSS, now branded as the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), is a system comprising seven satellites in total. With this launch, India has successfully placed 5 out of these 7 satellites in space.

Desai added, "This is the 5th in the series of operational NavIC satellites. NavIC satellite is our earlier named IRNSS satellite configuration which is called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, it is a part of this satellite constellation where we will put seven satellites. Older satellites are getting replaced with a new series of satellites."

NavIC is India’s independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide precise Position, Velocity, and Timing (PVT) services for users in India and regions extending up to 1500 km beyond India’s landmass.

The system offers two types of services: Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS). The SPS provides positioning accuracy better than 20 meters and timing accuracy better than 40 nanoseconds across the service area.