The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on March 26 successfully launched India’s largest Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) rocket/OneWeb India-2 Mission with 36 satellites onboard from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
“LVM3 standing 43.5 metres tall and weighing 643 tonnes lifted off from the second launchpad rocket port carrying OneWeb’s final installment of 36 Gen1 satellites,” said the ISRO officials.
The launch was the second mission for Network Access Associates Limited, United Kingdom (OneWeb Group Company) under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) to launch 72 satellites to Low-Earth Orbits. The first set of 36 satellites was launched in the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission on October 23, 2022. India’s Bharti Enterprises is a major investor in OneWeb group, which is engaged in the implementation of the constellation of low earth satellites. The launch was the 18th for OneWeb Group company, while it was the second mission for ISRO in 2023 after the successful launch of SSLV/D2-EOS07 mission undertaken in February.
With the latest mission, OneWeb would have 616 satellites in its fleet which would be more than enough to launch global services later this year. Across India, the company would bring secured solutions to enterprises and towns, villages, municipalities, and schools, including the remotest areas across the country.
