SRIHARIKOTA: India moved closer towards having its own satellite navigation system as it successfully launched a satellite with its rocket in a copy book style.

With the successful launch of third of the seven satellites planned under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), India moved nearer to a select group of space-faring nations having such a system.

The country is now just a satellite away from having its own satellite navigation system.

Exactly at 1.32 a.m., the rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C26(PSLV-C26), standing around 44.4 metres tall and weighing around 320 ton, blasted off from the first launch pad here at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, around 80 km from Chennai.

The expendable rocket with fierce orange flames at its tail tore into the night skies with its luggage, the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1C (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System-1C) satellite.

For the onlookers, the rocket looked like an inverted flare with a long handle as it ascended towards the heavens amidst the cheers of the ISRO scientists and the media team assembled at the rocket port here.

Space scientists at ISRO rocket mission control room were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the earth's gravitational pull.

At around 20 minutes into the flight, the PSLV-C26 spat out IRNSS-1C at an altitude of around 500 km above the earth.

Immediately on the successful ejection, scientists at the mission control centre were visibly relieved and started clapping happily.

"India's third navigation satellite is up in the orbit" ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan said post launch.

Soon after the ejection into the orbit, the satellite's solar panels were deployed.

The satellite has two kinds of payloads - navigation and ranging. The navigation payload would transmit navigation service signals to the users.

A highly accurate rubidium atomic clock is part of the navigation payload.

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