Sun 23 October 2022:
On Sunday, just after midnight, at 12:07 a.m., the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched 36 satellites using its heaviest rocket, cementing its position as a leader in the world of commercial satellite launches.
These satellites were launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on the rocket LVM3 for the London-based communications company OneWeb, in which Bharti Enterprises of India is a significant shareholder.
“This is the first-ever commercial launch of the new rocket LVM3 [Launch Vehicle Mark 3],” ISRO Chairman Sreedhara Panicker Somanath said as liftoff took place at 12:07am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.
This 14th launch of OneWeb satellites relied on India’s heaviest rocket, normally reserved for government spacecraft. OneWeb launched its first satellite in 2019.
It was the first launch for OneWeb since breaking with the Russian Space Agency in March because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite this year’s disruption, the British company said it remains on track to activate global coverage next year with a planned constellation of 648 satellites. It is already providing service in the northernmost latitudes.
According to ISRO’s website, the satellites will be arranged in 12 rings, with 49 in each plane and in a 1,200 km (745 mi) circular orbit. Every 109 minutes, each satellite will make a full circuit of the heart, according to the statement.
Each OneWeb satellite is roughly 150 kilograms in weight (330 pounds).
According to Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a director specializing in space and security at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, the launch is significant for India and illustrates the country’s gradual opening of its space agency to private customers.
India, according to Rajagopalan, has experience launching smaller satellites and has been vying for market share by positioning itself as a satellite launch facility.
“It could spur that trend in a big way,” she said.
“Another set of 36 OneWeb satellites will be launched by the LVM3 in the first half of next year,” an NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) executive told news agency PTI.
The newest and heaviest rocket of the Indian space agency can carry a four-tonne class of satellite, equivalent to the weight of a large flatbed truck.
In 2014, India sent an orbiter to Mars at a cost of $74 million, a fraction of the $671 million the US space agency NASA spent on its MAVEN Mars mission.
“We reached Mars on a budget less than that of a Hollywood film,” PM Narendra Modi had said in June 2017, ahead of the launch of 31 small satellites.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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