India’s Heavy Lift Rocket to Sling 36 OneWeb Satellites in LEO

Sriharikota (AP) : In less than 2 hours, India's heavy lift rocket GSLV-MkIII renamed for this mission as LVM3-M2 will blast off from the spaceport of Sriharikota, SHAR Range in Andhra Pradesh, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said. ISRO chairman Dr. Somanath has described the deployment as a “historic event”. 

The lift off is scheduled at 12.07 a.m. on Sunday. The 43.5 metre tall and weighing 644 ton LVM3-M2 will deploy 36 satellites of the UK-based One Web using the heaviest rocket launcher in orbit during the wee-hour. The launcher will place these satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), around 601 kms above the earth’s surface. 

During the countdown, propellant filling operations will be carried out in the three-stage vehicle.This would be an exclusive dedicated commercial mission by the Indian Space Agency.

LVM3 M2/ OneWeb India-1 Mission:
the countdown continues leading to the lift-off at 7 minutes past midnight.

Watch LIVE from 11:37 pm IST today on our Website, Facebook, YouTube channels, and on @DDNational @NSIL_India @OneWeb

— ISRO (@isro) October 22, 2022

About 20 minutes after lift off, the 43.5 m tall 3-stag vehicle, with a total lift-off mass of 644 tonnes, willplace the satellites into circular LEO of 601 km with an inclination of 87.4 Deg to the equator.This mission is the fifth flight of LVM3 and with this launch, LVM3 is making its entry into the 'Global Commercial Launch Service Market'.

Launch time confirmed 🚀#OneWebLaunch14 with @ISRO is set to take place this weekend.

Lift-off is scheduled for 00:07 (IST), 23 October. That's 19:37 (BST) and 14:37 (ET), 22 October.

You can follow the launch live on our website, or across our YouTube and LinkedIn channels. pic.twitter.com/1ReHwKaxVj

— OneWeb (@OneWeb) October 18, 2022

India’s Bharti Global serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb. The satellite company plans to have a constellation of about 650 satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) to offer communication services.

Here's the much-awaited integration #video of the heaviest #rocket designed & built in #India - GSLV Mk3/LVM3
This beast will be launched tomo 00:07 in its maiden commercial mission & orbiting 36 satellites of @OneWeb

This'll mark foray of #isro into global medium-lift market🚀 pic.twitter.com/IvMpAgQvTQ

— Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) October 22, 2022

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