Indian rocket with navigation satellite blasts off

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), April 28 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 here.

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.