Chennai: With India’s satellite navigation system—NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) in urgent need of augmentation, experts believe there is now a critical opportunity for private sector involvement in Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services.
Industry insiders suggest that future navigation systems could shift to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), offering greater precision and security.
“A LEO-based navigation satellite system is certainly possible, but it would require a significantly larger number of satellites,” said a retired Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official who worked on the NavIC programme.
Since its inception, NavIC has never operated with its full constellation of seven functioning satellites, even though ISRO launched 11 satellites between 2013 and 2025.
While ISRO consistently launched NavIC satellites, formerly called IRNSS, until 2018, activity declined afterward.
“Perhaps shifting priorities and internal management changes affected progress. The push toward privatisation also caused a prolonged lull,” the retired official noted.
Currently, only four NavIC satellites are fully functional and able to provide PNT services. Among the remaining: Four are limited to one-way message broadcasting; One was decommissioned after reaching its end-of-life, and Two failed to reach their intended orbit, according to Union Minister of State for Space Dr. Jitendra Singh.
Singh informed Parliament that one more satellite, NVS-03, is scheduled for launch by the end of 2025, with NVS-04 and NVS-05 expected to follow at six-month intervals.
This piecemeal approach has long been ISRO’s standard response to queries about strengthening NavIC’s capabilities. The recent “Operation Sindoor”—a four-day conflict between India and Pakistan—highlighted the system’s critical importance for India’s defence forces.
Alarmingly, it is said one of the four functioning satellites is operating with only one atomic clock, as two have failed. A single additional clock failure could cripple the entire system—emphasizing the urgent need for an upgrade.
While NavIC currently operates with a mix of geostationary (3 satellites) and geosynchronous (4 satellites) orbits, Indian start-up AeroDome Technologies Pvt. Ltd., co-founded by IIT Madras alumni, is working on a next-gen LEO-based navigation constellation called VyomIC.
“Location and time are the foundations of our connected world. Every digital system first needs to know ‘when’ and ‘where’,” Vibhor Jain, Co-Founder of AeroDome Technologies told this writer.
According to Jain, traditional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are no longer sufficient to meet the demands of modern technology, which requires greater precision and security.
VyomIC aims to address two major limitations of current GNSS systems: Higher location and timing accuracy and Secure, resilient signal transmission—as GNSS signals can be easily jammed.
Instead of traditional atomic clocks, VyomIC satellites will use chip-scale clock architecture, significantly reducing weight and cost. Conventional atomic clocks weigh 30–40 kg, making satellites heavier and more expensive to launch, Jain said.
The VyomIC constellation will consist of 125–150 satellites in LEO, each weighing 30–50 kg with a life span of 5–7 years. Development will follow a phased approach:
Phase 1: Testing payloads on ground-based high-rise structures
Phase 2: Building and testing inter-communication between four payloads
Phase 3: In-orbit testing via ISRO’s PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM)
Regarding the business model, Jain said the company will offer both subscription-based and perpetual license models to customers in sectors such as automotive, drones, precision agriculture, defence, maritime, aviation, and construction.
AeroDome is currently seeking to raise Rs.14 crore to fund its satellite constellation and is in discussions with investors.
India isn’t alone in exploring LEO-based navigation. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently announced the launch of its first two LEO-PNT satellites in December 2025 aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from New Zealand.
This demonstration mission is part of a larger European initiative to develop a 10-satellite LEO constellation under parallel contracts with GMV (Spain) and Thales Alenia Space (France). Each company will deliver one satellite—dubbed Pathfinder A—for initial in-orbit validation.
Countries like Japan, USA, China and others are also developing or exploring LEO-based PNT systems, reflecting a broader global shift toward more resilient and precise navigation solutions.
