NEW DELHI:  On Sunday, March 26, 2023 The  Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its LVM3 rocket in the second batch of 36 OneWeb satellites from Sriharikota. 

If the launch is successful, the UK-based company, which is sponsored by Bharti Enterprise, will have a constellation of approximately 600 low-Earth-orbit satellites, opening the door to the provision of space-based broadband internet services around the entire world.

Mission LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2. ISRO said on Monday, "The launch is slated for March 26, 2023, at 0900 IST from the second launch pad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota.

The launch of 36 satellites on Sunday will be OneWeb's 18th launch, expanding its current constellation of 582 spacecraft. Forty OneWeb satellites were launched into space on March 9 by SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket.

For a launch cost of over Rs 1,000 crore, OneWeb and Isro's commercial unit NSIL agreed to launch 72 satellites over the course of two launches. After that, on October 23 of last year, the first group of 36 Oneweb satellites was successfully launched from Sriharikota.

"Exciting news from India as we confirm the encapsulation of our 36 satellites ahead of #OneWebLaunch18; our last launch which will complete our Gen 1 constellation," OneWeb wrote in a recent tweet thanking Isro and its commercial division NSIL for the impending launch. The value of cooperation between the Indian and British space sectors was also underlined by OneWeb.

The company's major shareholders are India's Bharti Global, France's Eutelsat, and the UK government, while Japan's SoftBank still holds a 12% equity stake.

OneWeb will connect cities, villages, and local and regional municipalities in the most difficult-to-reach locations with Bharti as its principal investor, helping to bridge the digital divide in India. According to the company, OneWeb and its partners can link more rural and distant businesses and communities to the internet with each new location they cover.
Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe are among the nations above 50 degrees north latitude where OneWeb has already begun offering internet services from space.

Internet Comment on NASA Image of Earth at Night: "India Shining Too Bright"

Launch of the first 3D-printed rocket in the world, but it falls short of orbit

ISRO is all set to launch it's Chandrayan-3 in mid of 2023

The LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission is scheduled to launch on March 26