ISRO’s heaviest rocket launched in first ever commercial flight: 36 satellites successfully placed in orbit
LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 Mission was launched at Midnight on Saturday.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr S Somanath said Diwali started a day early for the space agency with the successful launch of the heaviest rocket carrying 36 communication satellites. Addressing a press conference on the occasion, Dr Somanath said that the Chandrayaan 3 is also “almost ready”.
The satellites launched today belong to United Kingdom-based firm OneWeb Limited, which entered into a commercial agreement with ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India. New Delhi-based business conglomerate Bharti Enterprises is among the key investors in OneWeb.
The LVM3-M2 lifted off from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre in Sriharikota. All the 36 satellites were placed into orbit about 75 minutes after the rocket lifted off.
The rocket carried a payload of 5,796 kilograms. The launch was the first time that the LVM3-M2 placed satellites in Low Earth Orbit, which is up to 2,000 kilometres from the earth.
The satellites are a part of the 468 satellite constellation of OneWeb released into Leo Earth Orbit to provide Internet access to areas which are impossible to provide. OneWeb had penned a deal worth more than Rs 1000 crore for the launch and another GSLV launch carrying OneWeb payload is expected in January of 2023.
The sole reason behind changing the name of the vehicle from GSLV to LVM is that the rocket will not deploy the satellites in the geosynchronous orbit. The OneWeb satellites operate in Low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 1,200 kilometers. The geosynchronous orbit, on the other hand, is located 35,786 kilometers above Earth’s equator.
