OneWeb, a low-Earth orbit satellite communications company in association with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), will launch 36 satellites on Sunday. This would be a record in itself. ISRO said on Saturday that the countdown has begun for the launch of 36 satellites through the OneWeb India-2 mission.
These satellites will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 9 am on March 26. It is to be known that this launch vehicle weighing 643 tonnes and 43.5 meters long is the heaviest launch vehicle of ISRO, which has completed five successful flights so far, including Chandrayaan-2 mission. These 36 satellites weigh 5805 tonnes.
ISRO informed that the current mission LVM3-M3 is the second dedicated commercial satellite mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) being carried out for its client British company M/s Network Access Associates Limited (M/s OneWeb). LVM-3 is the new name of ISRO’s heaviest launch vehicle GSLVMK-3 which has the capability to launch the heaviest satellites into a fixed orbit.
what is oneweb
Talking about OneWeb Satellite, it is a UK based communication company. Along with the UK government, India’s Indian Enterprises, France’s Eutelsat, Japan’s SoftBank, America’s Huey Networks and South Korea’s Hanwha are major partners. Its headquarter is in London. The aim of this company is to provide better broadband service around the world.
One of the biggest order of ISRO
OneWeb has entered into an agreement with ISRO, under which 36 satellites will be placed in low earth orbit on March 26. Last year also ISRO had installed 36 satellites of the company. Agreement has been signed to launch a total of 72 satellites. For this, a total launch fee of more than one thousand crore rupees is being charged. This is one of the biggest orders of ISRO.