Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on October 23 successful launched the LVM3-M2-the heaviest rocket carrying 36 communication satellites from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Key points
- All 36 satellites were injected into the orbits around 75 minutes after the rocket blasted off from the spaceport. This mission was the 5th flight of LVM3.
- The LVM3-M2 mission is a dedicated commercial mission for a foreign customer OneWeb, through NSIL.
- It is the first multi-satellite mission with 36 OneWeb Satellites to the LEO as the heaviest Payload mass of 5,796 kg. of LVM3 till date.
- LVM3-M2 is the dedicated commercial satellite mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under Department of Space, Government of India. With this launch, LVM3 made its entry into the “Global Commercial Launch Service Market”.
- This mission was undertaken as part of the commercial arrangement entered into between NSIL and Network Access Associates Ltd. (OneWeb Ltd.), a UK based company.
- As part of this mission 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites, meant for global connectivity needs, was launched from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) of SDSC-SHAR into circular low earth orbit of 601 km altitude with an inclination of 87.4°.
LVM-3 stands for Launch Vehicle Mark 3
- LVM-3 stands for Launch Vehicle Mark 3. Isro has redesignated the launch vehicle as LVM-3 from GSLV Mk-III.
- The reason behind changing the name of the vehicle from GSLV to LVM is that the rocket had to deploy the satellites in the LEO and not 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.
Many first
- This is the first Commercial Mission of LVM3.
- This is the first Multi-Satellite mission with 36 OneWeb Satellites onboard.
- This is the first launch of LVM3 to LEO.
- This is the first Indian rocket with six ton payload.
- This is the first NSIL Mission with LVM3.
- This is the first OneWeb Mission with NSIL/DoS.
OneWeb Gen-1 Satellites
- OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses and communities.
- It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites. India’s Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb.
- This is OneWeb’s 14th launch and with ISRO and NSIL opens up the space sector in India.
- OneWeb Satellites are arranged in 12 orbital planes with 49 satellites in each plane at 1200 km circular orbit. The constellation will have a total of 648 satellites.
