ISRO Launches 36 OneWeb Satellites from Sriharikota

With this launch by ISRO the LVM3 has become a  power horse of  the Indian Space Program thus, opening new vistas for heavy payloads to the LEO

OneWeb confirmed the successful deployment of 36 satellites launched by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC- SHAR) in Sriharikota, India. This launch by ISRO and NSIL is one of the biggest commercial orders by India’s premier space organization, and the first using the LVM3 rocket.

The lift-off took place on 23 October 2022 at 00.07 hrs. OneWeb’s satellites separated successfully from the rocket and were dispensed in 9 phases over a period of 1 hour and 15 minutes, with signal acquisition on all 36 satellites confirmed.

This is the 14th launch of OneWeb, and the second this year. This launch brings the total of OneWeb’s constellation to 462 satellites, representing more than 70% of its planned 648 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity worldwide. With only four more launches to go, OneWeb remains on track to activate global coverage by 2023, while its connectivity solutions are already live in regions north of 50-degrees latitude.

The LVM3 launch vehicle realized with complete indigenized technology had four consecutive successful missions, which includes critical Chandrayaan-2 mission.  The vehicle underwent several critical tests as a part of human rating for Gaganyaan programme.  The cryo stage was uniquely designed to orient and re-orient in orthogonal direction to meet the customer requirements of injecting satellites precisely and with a gap to avoid collision.  The vehicle was realized in a short span of time on demand driven basis to meet the user’s timeline.

Somanath S, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO said:  “Today’s event is very historic to the country and the Indian Space Programme.  This is the first ever commercial launch of LVM3 with a heaviest payload to LEO.  The LVM3 was conceived primarily for launching geo-stationary satellites with a payload capacity of 4T, which can be used for launching 6T payloads for LEO.  The mission is very critical to meet the customer’s expectations to launch 36 satellites in 9 phases with precision.  The mission was designed in such a way, that C25 stage was to handle this operation using in-house built inertial navigation systems.  The injection of the satellites were so precise to the expectation of the customer.”

Sunil Bharti Mittal, executive chairman of OneWeb, said: “Today’s launch is a significant milestone for OneWeb. This new phase of our launch programme from India brings us a step closer to not only enhancing our global coverage but also delivering connectivity in India and South Asia, particularly to the communities who need it most.”

Over the coming months, OneWeb will continue its focus on the launch programme and will also work with key distribution partners and customers to roll out connectivity solutions where its services are live. Neil Masterson, chief executive of OneWeb, commented: “I am delighted that we have been able to resume OneWeb’s launch programme. This launch was made possible thanks to the hard work by our team and our partners at ISRO and NSIL, as well as shareholder Bharti Global. The spirit of collaboration exemplified by this international effort is at the core of our strategy to scale up our global coverage network. At OneWeb, we remain laser-focused on removing barriers to connectivity, ensuring that we deliver for communities and customers globally.”