THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: NVS 01, the first second-generation satellite to power NavIC, India's version of GPS, will be launched tomorrow at 10:42 am from Sriharikota.

The GSLVs will be launched on three rockets from the second launch pad at Sriharikota. The satellite will be placed in an orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km. The 2232 kg satellite has a lifespan of 12 years. This is the twelfth launch of the GSLV rocket.

All seven NavIC satellites of the IRNSS series will be replaced within two years. The first of these satellites will replace IRNSS 1A and will be launched tomorrow. NavIC will become more accurate as all the satellites are changed. Location will be accurate to 20 meters and time to 50 nanoseconds. NavIC can also withstand interference from other data waves and weather conditions. It uses L5 band frequency data communication transponders. The atomic clock is indigenously developed which further ensures accuracy. The capacity of second-generation satellites is 10 gigabytes per second for data transfer.

Seven satellites were launched for NavIC from 2016 to 2018.

NavIC is used for India's military needs and integrated with navigation systems of other countries for the country's cargo transportation, mobile phone services, agricultural information exchange, disaster management, telemedicine, e-governance and internet services. NavIC has a range of 1500 km around India. Other existing navigation systems include US GPS, Russia's GLONASS, European Union's Galileo and China's BeiDou.