Indian rocket with navigation satellite blasts off from Sriharikota

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket lifted off successfully on Thursday afternoon with the country's seventh and final navigation satellite, IRNSS-1G, from the rocket port in Sriharikota.

ISRO's seventh navigation satellite IRNSS-1G that would set up regional navigation system for India, a day before its launch from spaceport of Sriharikota. Pic/PTI

The PSLV-XL standing 44.4 metre tall and weighing 320 tonnes, tore into the afternoon skies at 12.50 p.m. breaking free of the earth's gravitational pull.

Named the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), it consists of a constellation of seven satellites of which six - IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, IRNSS-1E and IRNSS-1F- have already been put into orbit.

The seventh satellite in the series - IRNSS-1G - weighing 1,425 kg is expected to soon join the other six.

Just over 20 minutes into the flight, the rocket would put IRNSS-1G into orbit at an altitude 497.8 km.

The satellite's life span is 12 years.