Lifting off past midnight on Friday, ISRO’s GSLV-F18 rocket placed the NVS-03 satellite into orbit, restoring critical positioning and timing services for India’s NavIC network.

The launch is significant as it marks the space agency’s second GSLV mission within two months, representing one of its fastest turnaround times for the vehicle.

“This mission was accomplished with the least turnaround time of just 56 days between successive GSLV missions. Last month, on September 4, we accomplished the GSLV-17/EOS-05 mission. Today, all the vehicle systems have performed as predicted and as expected,” said ISRO Chairperson V Narayanan.

He said that this was an important component of ‘One Nation, One Time’ project.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the ISRO scientists. He said, “This mission marks an important step in strengthening NavIC, our indigenous satellite navigation system.…