ISRO places 36 satellites on rocket LVM3-M2’s maiden commercial mission
The first commercial mission of the Indian Space Research Organization’s(ISRO) rocket LVM3-M2 carried 36 satellites, writing history. 36 broadband satellites owned by OneWeb Ltd., a company based in the UK, were launched into their planned orbits using the heaviest rocket ever built by the Indian Space Research Organization.
OneWeb Ltd., an international communication network powered by space that enables internet connectivity for governments and corporations, is a client of NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO. One of the primary investors in OneWeb is Bharti Enterprises.
With this accomplishment, ISRO overcame the anomaly that occurred during its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission on August 7 and rendered the satellites useless.
The rocket, which carried 36 OneWeb satellites and became the first Indian rocket with a payload of 5,796 kg, carried the heaviest payload, according to ISRO. Unlike Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, which is where the satellites are placed after launch, Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is up to 1,200 km above the Earth, is a first for LVM3-M2 (GTO).
Around 75 minutes after the rocket lifted off from the Andhra Pradesh spaceport, all 36 satellites were placed into their orbits. According to ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, the festival celebrations got underway at Satish Dhawan Space Centre as soon as LVM3 and its first commercial flight successfully completed the orbit. At 12.07 am on Sunday, a 43.5-meter-tall rocket launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center’s second launch pad beautifully and on schedule.
The vehicle’s capacity to transport satellites weighing up to 8,000 kg earns it the title of one of the heaviest vehicles.
Sunil Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, former ISRO leaders K Sivan and A S Kiran Kumar, and others watched the launch from the Mission Control Center. The rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle that has two strap-on solid propellant stages (S200) on its flanks and a core stage that consists of two liquid and cryogenic stages (L110 and C25).
