36 satellites are successfully launched into orbit by ISRO’s heaviest rocket, making history with this successful commercial mission LVM3-M2 | CONTENT ON THE EDGE
On its first commercial mission on Sunday, the LVM3-M2 rocket from Indian Space Research Organization successfully launched 36 broadband communication satellites for a UK-based customer into their intended orbits, according to the space agency, which hailed the mission as “historic.”
Historic:
OneWeb Ltd. is a client of NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, and a global communication network powered by space that enables internet connectivity for businesses and governments. OneWeb Ltd. is based in the United Kingdom. One of the primary investors in OneWeb is Bharti Enterprises.
With Sunday’s accomplishment, ISRO overcame the anomaly that rendered the satellites useless during its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission on August 7.
Deepavali had already begun for the scientists at the space agency, said a beaming S Somanath, chairman of ISRO, in the early hours of Sunday.
“Mission LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 has been successfully completed. The intended orbits for each of the 36 satellites have been established. @OneWeb, @NSIL India “Minutes after Somanath made his announcement, ISRO tweeted that 16 satellites had been placed in the desired orbits, with the remaining satellites still requiring some additional time.
Around 75 minutes after the rocket lifted off from this spaceport, all 36 satellites were launched into their orbits.
Mission in history :
Somanath said in his address to the group at the Mission Control Center that the Satish Dhawan Space Center had begun its festival celebrations because LVM3 and its first commercial mission had completed the orbit very precisely.
“16 of the 36 satellites have already been launched into orbit by the rocket as of this moment. I wanted to let you know that the satellites are being separated slowly. The remaining 20 satellites’ data will be released a little later, and mission operations to observe this separation are still underway “He had earlier remarked. Later, ISRO confirmed that the mission’s desired goal had been accomplished.
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.
Somanath, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space, described the expedition as “historic” and gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi credit for his support of the operation.
“The entire launch vehicle team deserves praise for seizing the chance to get everything ready for the historic mission today. I also want to express my gratitude to the OneWeb team for choosing us to host LVM3; we have high hopes for LVM3’s next mission to deploy the remaining 36 satellites for which NSIL has contracted “he declared.
In praising the ISRO team for a “commendable” mission of LVM3, NSIL Chairman and Managing Director D Radhakrishnan said, “The three major stakeholders to this particular mission, the NSIL, ISRO and OneWeb India, have shown the entire world how to contract and execute the mission in less than 3-4 months.”
After a 24-hour countdown, the 43.5-meter-tall rocket blasted off on Sunday at 12.07 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Center’s second launch pad in a majestic flight.
The vehicle’s capacity to transport satellites weighing up to 8,000 kg earns it the title as one of the heaviest vehicles. Since scientists had to shut off the engine to place the satellites into their intended orbits, the entire mission to launch 36 satellites took about 75 minutes from liftoff.
The LVM3-M2 mission, which is the launch vehicle’s first dedicated commercial mission, is one of several significant milestones that will be reached on Sunday. The rocket, which carried 36 OneWeb satellites and became the first Indian rocket with a payload of 5,796 kg, carried the heaviest payloads, according to ISRO.
“The mission was a demand given to this team by ISRO Chairman to execute the mission in a very short time of less than three months,” said mission director Thaddeus Baskar. “After the requirement was established, the entire ISRO team stepped up and worked hard. There was no time for sleep during the entire schedule because everything had to be completed correctly the first time “he declared.
Satellites in low-earth orbit
In addition, this is the first launch of LVM3-M2 to place satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is higher than Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by up to 1,200 km (GTO). The GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle was nicknamed LVM3-M2 by ISRO scientists since the most recent rocket can carry 8,000 kg of payloads into LEO and 4,000 kg of satellites into GTO.
The rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle that has two solid propellant S200 strap-ons on either side of its core stage, which is made up of the cryogenic C25 stage and the liquid L110 stage.
With the new launch vehicle planned to put satellites into low-Earth orbit and ISRO’s tried-and-true Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the LVM3-M2 mission would boost the space agency (PSLV).
A constellation of 648 satellites called OneWeb is being deployed in low Earth orbit. While another group of satellites was scheduled to be launched by early 2023, in addition to the 36 satellites that were launched on Sunday, ISRO added.
