Express News Service
SRIHARIKOTA: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday successfully placed 36 commercial satellites into orbit, arguably the heaviest payload carried in a single mission till date from Indian shores. With this, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, has successfully executed its contract to launch 72 satellites of OneWeb into low earth orbit. The first batch of 36 satellites was launched last year.
#UPDATE: LVM3-MOneWebIndia-2 missionis accomplished!All 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites injected into the intended orbitsIn its 6th consecutive successful flight, LVM3 carried 5805 kg of payload to Low Earth Orbit@OneWeb @NSIL_India@NewIndianXpress https://t.co/jw2hn18ndZ
— S V Krishna Chaitanya (@Krish_TNIE) March 26, 2023
This also means that Bharti Enterprise-backed OneWeb Group based in the UK completes its first generation (Gen-1) low earth orbit (LEO) constellation, allowing it to offer broadband internet services all over the world. OneWeb confirmed the acquisition of signals from all 36 satellites
ISRO launched 36 commercial satellitesin a low-earth orbit at a 450km altitude | ISROThe rocket, which will be used for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, lifted off from Sriharikota at 9 am as scheduled. It gained the required altitude of 450km in about nine minutes and began injecting the satellites in the 20th minute. The C25 (cryogenic upper stage) performed a sophisticated manoeuvre to orient itself to inject satellites into precise orbits.
ISRO chairman S Somanath expressed his happiness over the consecutive successful flight of LVM3 and thanked NSIL for the opportunity and the confidence the OneWeb team had in ISRO.
“I congratulate The Indian Space Research Organisation for making LVM3 rugged and demonstrating its capabilities of launching large, heavy payloads into the right orbit without any glitches. We look forward to greater engagement with commercial partners for making this rocket one of the best in its class,” he said and thanked the government for the support and approvals for the missions.
NSIL CMD D Radhakrishnan termed Sunday’s launch momentous.
“Having a repeat performance of any launcher is not an easy thing to do. A special thing seen in this mission is using the cryogenic stage to do such a complex manoeuvre to meet OneWeb’s requirement. We are happy to be part of OneWeb’s journey and want to reassure them that NSIL will continue to engage to meet any other requirement.”
OneWeb said its constellation as on date is 618 satellites. The design calls for 588 satellites for global coverage and additional satellites are planned for resiliency.
In a statement, Sunil Bharti Mittal, executive chairman of OneWeb, said, “Today’s launch represents a major step towards closing the digital divide. OneWeb’s global constellation will play a pivotal role in realising this dream.”
ISRO closer to Gaganyaan with the launch of LVM3
With an eye on the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, ISRO made a few design changes to the GSLV-Mk3 or LVM3 rocket that lifted off majestically on Sunday from Sriharikota with 36 commercial satellites onboard.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said there are several changes made in the LVM3 rocket that is human rated with an eye on the #Gaganayan mission. @NewIndianXpress @isro @DrJitendraSingh @NASA @NASAKennedy pic.twitter.com/lNoBVgeZNW
— S V Krishna Chaitanya (@Krish_TNIE) March 26, 2023
ISRO Chairman S Somanath told TNIE that the modifications were aimed to increase the reliability and safety quotient. “We ruggedised possible points of failure. Increase the margins wherever there are thermally affected areas with extra insulation. The materials used are put through higher levels of screening and production controls. For instance, a typical rocket has two O-rings, now we have three so we have one more additional ceiling joint. Insulation which is given inside was almost 1.5 times what was done earlier,” Somanath said.
The configuration used on Sunday is similar to the one that would be used for Gaganyaan. To be specific, the S200 motors on board are similar to the launchers required for the Gaganyaan. “This rocket (LVM3-M3) also has the S200 motors that are designed with increased margins and features which are suited for Gaganyaan configuration. We are happy that it performed very well in this mission.” he said, addressing scientists at the Mission Control Centre.
“There were many more improvements in this rocket, which are aimed towards making it human-rated in the other stages and systems as well. I am very happy to see the progress incrementally happening towards Gaganyaan Mission as well.”
Only a few days back, ISRO received the crew module structure simulated assembly for the integrated Air-Drop test (IADT) meant for validating the sequence and performance of parachute systems in the Gaganyaan mission.
SRIHARIKOTA: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday successfully placed 36 commercial satellites into orbit, arguably the heaviest payload carried in a single mission till date from Indian shores. With this, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, has successfully executed its contract to launch 72 satellites of OneWeb into low earth orbit. The first batch of 36 satellites was launched last year.
#UPDATE: LVM3-MOneWebIndia-2 mission
is accomplished!
All 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites injected into the intended orbits
In its 6th consecutive successful flight, LVM3 carried 5805 kg of payload to Low Earth Orbit@OneWeb @NSIL_India@NewIndianXpress https://t.co/jw2hn18ndZ
— S V Krishna Chaitanya (@Krish_TNIE) March 26, 2023
This also means that Bharti Enterprise-backed OneWeb Group based in the UK completes its first generation (Gen-1) low earth orbit (LEO) constellation, allowing it to offer broadband internet services all over the world. OneWeb confirmed the acquisition of signals from all 36 satellitesgoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
ISRO launched 36 commercial satellites
in a low-earth orbit at a 450km altitude | ISROThe rocket, which will be used for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, lifted off from Sriharikota at 9 am as scheduled. It gained the required altitude of 450km in about nine minutes and began injecting the satellites in the 20th minute. The C25 (cryogenic upper stage) performed a sophisticated manoeuvre to orient itself to inject satellites into precise orbits.
ISRO chairman S Somanath expressed his happiness over the consecutive successful flight of LVM3 and thanked NSIL for the opportunity and the confidence the OneWeb team had in ISRO.
“I congratulate The Indian Space Research Organisation for making LVM3 rugged and demonstrating its capabilities of launching large, heavy payloads into the right orbit without any glitches. We look forward to greater engagement with commercial partners for making this rocket one of the best in its class,” he said and thanked the government for the support and approvals for the missions.
NSIL CMD D Radhakrishnan termed Sunday’s launch momentous.
“Having a repeat performance of any launcher is not an easy thing to do. A special thing seen in this mission is using the cryogenic stage to do such a complex manoeuvre to meet OneWeb’s requirement. We are happy to be part of OneWeb’s journey and want to reassure them that NSIL will continue to engage to meet any other requirement.”
OneWeb said its constellation as on date is 618 satellites. The design calls for 588 satellites for global coverage and additional satellites are planned for resiliency.
In a statement, Sunil Bharti Mittal, executive chairman of OneWeb, said, “Today’s launch represents a major step towards closing the digital divide. OneWeb’s global constellation will play a pivotal role in realising this dream.”
ISRO closer to Gaganyaan with the launch of LVM3
With an eye on the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, ISRO made a few design changes to the GSLV-Mk3 or LVM3 rocket that lifted off majestically on Sunday from Sriharikota with 36 commercial satellites onboard.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said there are several changes made in the LVM3 rocket that is human rated with an eye on the #Gaganayan mission. @NewIndianXpress @isro @DrJitendraSingh @NASA @NASAKennedy pic.twitter.com/lNoBVgeZNW
— S V Krishna Chaitanya (@Krish_TNIE) March 26, 2023
ISRO Chairman S Somanath told TNIE that the modifications were aimed to increase the reliability and safety quotient. “We ruggedised possible points of failure. Increase the margins wherever there are thermally affected areas with extra insulation. The materials used are put through higher levels of screening and production controls. For instance, a typical rocket has two O-rings, now we have three so we have one more additional ceiling joint. Insulation which is given inside was almost 1.5 times what was done earlier,” Somanath said.
The configuration used on Sunday is similar to the one that would be used for Gaganyaan. To be specific, the S200 motors on board are similar to the launchers required for the Gaganyaan. “This rocket (LVM3-M3) also has the S200 motors that are designed with increased margins and features which are suited for Gaganyaan configuration. We are happy that it performed very well in this mission.” he said, addressing scientists at the Mission Control Centre.
“There were many more improvements in this rocket, which are aimed towards making it human-rated in the other stages and systems as well. I am very happy to see the progress incrementally happening towards Gaganyaan Mission as well.”
Only a few days back, ISRO received the crew module structure simulated assembly for the integrated Air-Drop test (IADT) meant for validating the sequence and performance of parachute systems in the Gaganyaan mission.
