Separation of 36 satellites begins
More than 19 minutes into the rocket’s flight, the separation of 36 satellites of Network Access Associated Limited (OneWeb) in LEO began. The satellite will be placed in a circular orbit of 450 km with an inclination of 87.4 degrees. If the mission is successful, the total number of foreign satellites launched by India since 1999 will be 422.
LVM3 is a three-stage rocket
LVM3 (GSLV-Mk III) is a three stage rocket. It has two strap-on motors powered by liquid fuel in the first stage, solid fuel in the second stage and cryogenic engine in the third. ISRO’s heavy lift rocket has a payload capacity of 10 tonnes to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and four tonnes to Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO). LVM 3 has carried out five consecutive successful missions so far including the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
18th launch for OneWeb
This will be the final installment of OneWeb’s 36 Gen1 satellites. After the mission is successful, India’s Bharti Group and the UK government-backed UK company will have 618 satellites orbiting in space. OneWeb now has 582 satellites in orbit. The company had said that by completing the group, OneWeb is taking an important step in offering global coverage including India. Sunday’s launch is the 18th for OneWeb.
how many satellites are working
The OneWeb Gen-1 satellites are in the 150 kg class. The constellation includes 648 different satellites. Of these, 588 active satellites operate in 12 planes equally spaced at an altitude of about 1200 km above the Earth’s surface. Each aircraft is separated by 4 km in altitude to prevent inter-aircraft collisions. The payload is a bent-pipe system operating in the Ku and K bands. The forward link receives the Ka-band signal from the gateway via the satellite’s Ka antenna. ISRO said that the return link satellite receives Ku-band signals from the user terminals (UTs) through the Ku antenna.
How much money has been signed with ISRO
OneWeb chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in October 2022 that ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), had entered into a contract with OneWeb to launch 72 satellites in two phases for a launch fee of over Rs 1,000 crore. Signed on. The first batch of 36 satellites was launched on October 23, 2022, from the Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh with the LVM 3 rocket, formerly known as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III (GSLV Mk III).