At 9 am on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the second and final stage of its OneWeb India mission, sending thirty-six satellites into the space from its Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
The satellites were lifted-off approximately twenty-hours after the countdown to do so began at 8:30 am on Saturday.
Here’s all you need to know about the OneWeb India mission:
(1.) The ‘OneWeb’ in the its name refers to the UK-based OneWeb Group Company, with which the space agency had signed a commercial agreement to launch seventy-two satellites to low-earth orbits.
(2.) The agreement was signed between OneWeb and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the latter being ISRO’s commercial arm. The first set of thirty-six satellites was launched on October 23, 2022.
(3.) The satellites were lifted-off onboard India’s largest Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket. After five consecutive successful missions (including Chandrayaan-2), this was LVM-3’s sixth.
(4.) Like the first set, the second one, too, will be placed into a 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 87.4 degrees.
(5.) Together, the satellites weigh around 5,805 kg, according to ISRO.
