UPSC Prelims 2023 Question:

Which one of the following countries has its own Satellite Navigation System?

Learn more about Satellite Navigation System in the given explanation below. 

Explanation:

• Japan is a country that has its own satellite navigation system. The system is called the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and it is designed to augment the existing GPS system, providing more accurate and reliable positioning and timing information within Japan and surrounding regions.
  
  

Which are the other Navigation Systems operational in the World?

Four global systems:

• GPS from the U.S.
• GLONASS from Russia.
• Galileo from European Union
• BeiDou from China.

Two regional systems:

• NavIC from India
• QZSS from Japan.

About NaVIC

NavIC, also known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), is an independent stand-alone indigenous navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

• NAVIC was approved in 2006 (at a cost of $174 million) and was expected to be completed by 2011, but only become operational in 2018.
• NavIC, which consists of 7 satellites, covering the whole of India's landmass and up to 1,500 km from its boundaries, is conceived with the aim of removing dependence on foreign satellite systems for navigation, particularly for "strategic sectors.".
• Currently, NavIC's application in India is limited in - 
  • Public vehicle tracking, for providing emergency warning alerts to fishermen venturing into the deep sea where there is no terrestrial network connectivity and
  • For tracking and providing information related to natural disasters.
• The next step India is pushing for is to include it in smartphones.
• According to India's draft satellite navigation policy 2021, the government will work toward "expanding the coverage from regional to global" to ensure the availability of NavIC signals in any part of the world.

Therefore, option (4) is the correct answer.

Subject: Science & Technology | Space and Related Developments