{"id":69111,"date":"2026-03-16T18:38:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=69111"},"modified":"2026-03-16T18:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:10:03","slug":"navic-atomic-clock-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-03-2026\/navic-atomic-clock-failure","title":{"rendered":"Failure of Atomic Clock Cripples ISRO\u2019s NavIC\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Science and Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India\u2019s indigenous navigation satellite system <strong>Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)<\/strong> has suffered a setback after the failure of the<strong> IRNSS-1F <\/strong>satellite due to malfunction of its last <strong>operational rubidium atomic clock.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The IRNSS-1F satellite<\/strong> was launched in <strong>2016<\/strong> by the <strong>Indian Space Research Organisation <\/strong>and has completed its <strong>10-year design mission life.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Atomic clock<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An Atomic Clock is a <strong>highly precise time-keeping device<\/strong> that measures time based on the natural vibration frequency of atoms, usually cesium or rubidium atoms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is considered the <strong>most accurate time-keeping technology<\/strong>, capable of maintaining accuracy to nanoseconds (billionths of a second).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Working Principle:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Atoms vibrate at <strong>extremely stable and predictable frequencies<\/strong> when they change energy states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The atomic clock measures this frequency and converts it into standard time signals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Established by <strong>Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NavIC is <\/strong>India\u2019s <strong>autonomous regional navigation satellite system<\/strong>, designed to fulfill both civilian and military navigational needs. It was launched in<strong> 2013.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NavIC was erstwhile known as<strong> Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It provides precise Position, Velocity, and Timing (PVT) services<\/strong> within India and extends up to <strong>1,500 km<\/strong> beyond the country&#8217;s borders, forming its primary service area.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NavIC is designed with a constellation of <strong>7 satellites<\/strong> and a network of ground stations operating 24 x 7.\u00a0\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Three satellites <\/strong>of the constellation are placed in<strong> geostationary orbit<\/strong> and <strong>four satellites<\/strong> are placed in <strong>inclined geosynchronous orbit.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"445c64\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"598\" height=\"469\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-3.webp\" alt=\"NavIC\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-69113\" style=\"--dominant-color: #445c64; width:399px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-3.webp 598w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-3-300x235.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NavIC offers two services:<\/strong> Standard Position Service (SPS) for <strong>civilian users<\/strong> and Restricted Service (RS) for <strong>strategic users.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It provides location accuracy better than 20 meters and timing accuracy better than 40 nanoseconds across the core service area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/navic-satellite-irnss-1f-failure-atomic-clock-malfunction-10581224\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> India\u2019s indigenous navigation satellite system Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) has suffered a setback after the failure of the IRNSS-1F satellite due to malfunction of its last operational rubidium atomic clock. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About Atomic clock <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> An Atomic Clock is a highly precise time-keeping device that measures time based on the natural vibration frequency of atoms, usually cesium or rubidium atoms. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It is considered the most accurate time-keeping technology, capable of maintaining accuracy to nanoseconds (billionths of a second). <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-03-2026\/navic-atomic-clock-failure \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69115,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69111\/revisions\/69115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}