Sriharikota: OneWeb mission with 36 GSLV-satellites takes off from SHAR Range

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): In a historic mission GSLV-MkIII, India’s heaviest rocket, redesignated as LVM3-M2–carrying 36 satellites of UK’s OneWeb, took off majestically from the SHAR Range, at 12.07 a.m.
After a smooth 24-hour countdown that began at 12.07 a.m. on Saturday morning, the rocket lifted off from the Second Launch Pad as
scheduled for 12.07 a.m.

This mission is the fifth flight of LVM3 and with this launch, LVM3 made its foray into the ‘Global Commercial
Launch Service Market’, to carve a niche for itself as done by ISRO’s most trusted workhorse and versatile PSLV, which will have to retire one day paving the way for Next Gen Cost Effective Launch Vehicle (NGLV).
“PSLV has to retire one day and it will be replaced NGLV”, ISRO Chairman Dr. S. Somanath has said.
It is the first multi-satellite mission with 36 OneWeb Satellites to the LEO as the heaviest payload mass of
5,796 kg of LVM3 till date.
This is the first commercial mission of LVM3, first multi-satellite mission with 36 OneWeb satellites
onboard, First launch of LVM3 to LEO, First Indian rocket with six-ton payload, First NSIL mission with
LVM3 and the First OneWeb Mission with NSIL/DoS. OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space enabling connectivity for governments, businesses and communities. It is implementing a constellation of LEO satellites.
India’s Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb.
This is OneWeb’s 14th launch and with ISRO and NSIL opens up the space sector in India.
The constellation will have a total of 648 satellites. (UNI)