India (Commonwealth Union)_ Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the successful deployment of 36 internet satellites of a company under the UK-based OneWeb Group into their designated orbits by ISRO’s LVM3, the heaviest rocket in their fleet. PM Modi took to Twitter to congratulate the organization. He tweeted, “It reinforces India’s leading role as a global commercial launch service provider in the true spirit of Aatmanirbharta”.
This launch was the second dedicated project for NewSpace India Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO, which has also entered into an agreement with the UK’s OneWeb Group’s Network Access Associates Limited to launch 72 satellites into low-Earth orbit. The launch of India’s largest LVM3 rocket carrying the 36 satellites took place at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 9 am, and was a significant achievement for ISRO and India’s space program.
According to officials, LVM3 rocket is 43.5 meters tall and weighs 643 tons. It was launched from the second launch pad rocket port carrying OneWeb’s last installment of 36 Gen1 satellites. According to a Twitter statement from the social media handle of OneWeb satellite communications company and a partner in this mission, “Our golden ‘Hello World’ mission patch for this launch reflects our initiation of global coverage this year”.
Additionally, OneWeb highlighted the significance of collaboration between the British and Indian space industries. OneWeb added, “OneWebLaunch18 will see us launch 36 satellites with @isro and @NSIL_India from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. This mission marks OneWeb’s second satellite deployment from India, highlighting the collaboration between the UK and Indian space industries”.
OneWeb also launched 36 satellites on October 23, 2022. This launch marked the first instance of satellite deployment cooperation between the two organizations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also commended the successful injection of 36 satellites into their intended orbits by ISRO’s LVM3. This was the second project for Network Access Associates Limited, a OneWeb Group company, as part of a commercial deal with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) in order to launch 72 satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The initial group of 36 satellites was launched during the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission on October 23, 2022. At 9 am, the 43.5-meter-tall rocket lifted off from the second launch pad, located approximately 135 km away from Chennai, at the end of a 24.5-hour countdown. OneWeb group, in the process of implementing a constellation of low-earth satellites, has received significant investment from India’s Bharti Enterprises.
This was the 18th launch for the OneWeb Group company, while ISRO has completed its second mission for 2023 following the successful SSLV/D2-EOS07 mission in February. OneWeb’s fleet will consist of 616 satellites following today’s mission, more than sufficient for launching global services later in the year. According to reports, OneWeb stated that this mission marks its second satellite injection from India and emphasizes the cooperation between the UK and Indian space industries.
OneWeb stated that its solutions would bring secure connectivity to enterprises as well as towns, villages, municipalities, and schools, including remote areas across India. The first group of satellite separations, which has four of the 36 satellites, was scheduled to occur around 20 minutes following lift-off. The rest of the satellites are expected to be inserted into 450 km circular orbits over a period of time.
According to ISRO, after being inserted into low-Earth orbits, the satellites will be divided among 12 planes at an altitude of approximately 1,200 km from Earth’s surface. Each plane would be separated at an altitude of 4 kilometers to prevent inter-plane collisions. This is the sixth flight of the LVM3 rocket, formerly known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII (GSLVMkIII) with a cryogenic upper stage. It has had five missions in a row, including the popular Chandrayaan-2 mission.
