India's navigation satellite system NavIC goes offline
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India’s indigenous navigation satellite system, NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), has suffered a major setback following the failure of one of its four operational satellites, effectively rendering the constellation out of service.
To provide navigation services, NavIC needs at least four fully operational indigenous navigation satellites. However, since the produced on-board Atomic clock on IRNSS-1F (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System - 1F) stopped functioning on March 13, 2026, the system now has only three active satellites, below the minimum threshold needed for operations.
IRNSS-1F had completed its design mission life of 10 years earlier this week, on March 10, 2026. The satellite carried three atomic clocks for redundancy, but two had already failed, leaving it dependent on the last unit. With its final clock now non-functional, IRNSS-1F can no longer support navigation services, though it will continue to provide limited one-way broadcast messaging applications.
Since the inception of the NavIC program in July 2013, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched 11 navigation satellites. However, due to failures in foreign-sourced atomic clocks and orbital issues, the system was left with only four operational satellites for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services, with the others being used on a sub-optimal basis.
ISRO also faced setbacks in trying to launch replacement satellites into the designated orbit, with the latest effort being the launch of the NVS-02 on January 29, 2025, which was supposed to replace the IRNSS-1E in the NavIC constellation. Due to a failure in the pyro valve responsible for oxidiser flow, the satellite became stranded in the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) and couldn't reach its intended position.
