BANGALORE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Sunday, March 26,  successfully launched 36 OneWeb satellites into space. The spacecraft lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and minutes later reached the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with probes from the UK-based company. the OneWeb constellation is a network of satellites around the planet that are aimed at providing broadband connectivity across the world.

The UK company is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites. India’s Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb. This was the second launch of the LVM-III with the OneWeb satellites as part of a contract between the UK company and New Space India Limited (NSIL).

The deployment of the satellites took 75 minutes long, one of the longest for the spacecraft. Each satellite weighs 150 kg and were deployed in 12 planes, with each plane separated by 4 km in altitude to prevent collision. The launch used the redesignated LVM-III which is India's heaviest launch vehicle.

The countdown to the 2nd commercial launch of LVM3 rocket was commenced on March 25. The lift-off of the 43.5 metre tall rocket took place at 9 am. The 36 first generation satellites weighing 5,805 kgs will be placed into a 450 kms circular orbit with an inclination of about 87.4 degree.

The first satellite deployment collaboration between the two organisations took place in October 2022 with Indian Space Research Organisation launching 36 satellites of OneWeb. OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments and businesses.

Earlier it was known as Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV-MkIII). The reason behind changing the name of the vehicle from GSLV to LVM is that the rocket will not deploy the satellite in a geosynchronous orbit, sources said. The OneWeb satellites operate in Low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 1,200 kilometers.

(ISRO) launched its LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission with 36 satellites

ISRO to launch 36 OneWeb satellites on March 26, Details Inside