The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Sunday that its NVS-03 navigation satellite had completed its first orbit-raising manoeuvre. Controllers fired the spacecraft's liquid apogee motor two days after launch from Sriharikota. The burn cleared the step at which its predecessor failed last year.

NVS-03 lifted off on Friday aboard the GSLV-F18 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The rocket placed the satellite in an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit.

According to ISRO, the motor burn was commanded from the agency's Master Control Facility at Hassan, in Karnataka. Engineers there will now circularise the orbit through a series of further firings.

The manoeuvre carried unusual weight. In February 2025, ISRO confirmed that NVS-02 could not be raised to its intended orbit because valves feeding oxidiser to its engine failed to open. That spacecraft was left stranded in a transfer orbit.

A failure analysis committee later traced the fault to the valve actuation system, and ISRO said the design had been corrected for later satellites in the series.

The success matters for NavIC, India's regional satellite navigation system. Several of its first-generation satellites have been weakened by failing imported atomic clocks, which reduces the number of satellites providing full positioning services.

NVS-03 carries an indigenous atomic clock alongside procured units. The Department of Space has described that clock as central to India's goal of running the system without depending on foreign timing hardware.

ISRO said further orbit-raising burns were scheduled over the coming days. Once the satellite reaches its geosynchronous slot, in-orbit testing of its L1, L5 and S-band navigation payloads will follow.

NavIC signals are increasingly built into Indian smartphones and vehicle tracking systems. A healthy constellation would strengthen New Delhi's case for wider adoption at home and in neighbouring countries.