Sriharikota (AP), March 26: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s heaviest LVM3 rocket on Sunday successfully placed 36 internet satellites of UK-based OneWeb group company into intended orbits.
The 43.5 metre tall rocket blasted off at a prefixed time of 9 am today, from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 135 kms from Chennai, at the end of a 24.30 hour countdown.
This is the second dedicated mission of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation.
ISRO had signed an agreement with Network Access Associates Ltd, United Kingdom, a OneWeb Group Company, for the launch of 72 satellites into Low-Earth orbits (LEO).
The first batch of 36 satellites were launched on October 23, 2022 by ISRO, and the second batch today.
OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments and businesses.
Soon after takeoff, the rocket sequentially deployed the satellites into multiple orbits. While the first set of 16 satellites were injected around 20 minutes after lift off, the remaining satellites were placed into intended orbits later.
ISRO said, “LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission is accomplished. All 36 OneWeb Gen-1 Satellites injected into the intended orbits.” “In its sixth consecutive successful flight, LVM3 carried 5,805 kgs of payload to Low Earth Orbit,” the space agency said on its official social media account.
The launch vehicle took off with a total payload of 5,805 kg at 9.00 hrs and gained the required altitude of 450 km in about nine minutes of flight, and achieved satellite injection conditions, ISRO said in a statement.
OneWeb confirmed the acquisition of signals from all 36 satellites, it said.
ISRO chairman S Somanath congratulated NSIL, ISRO and OneWeb for the successful launch of the mission.
“As we know today the first 16 satellites of the series are already placed into the right orbit. And now it has gone into the far south of the Earth and we will be getting confirmation of the remaining spacecraft separation soon, once the onboard storage data is acquired by our Indian ground stations,” he said, addressing scientists at the Mission Control Centre.
The launch was the 18th for OneWeb while for ISRO, it would be the second mission in 2023 after the successful launch of the SSLV/D2-EOS07 undertaken in February. (PTI)
