LVM3

 LVM3

Blog Credit: Trupti Thakur

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ISRO launches LVM3-M3/Oneweb India-2 Mission in Sriharikota

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its heaviest rocket, LVM3, which placed 36 satellites belonging to the UK-based OneWeb group.

LVM3-M3 / OneWeb India-2 Mission. LVM3 M3/ OneWeb India-2 Mission is accomplished successfully. In its sixth consecutive successful flight of LVM3, the vehicle placed 36 satellites belonging to the OneWeb Group Company in their intended 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 87.4 degrees.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its heaviest rocket, LVM3, which placed 36 satellites belonging to the UK-based OneWeb group.

Founded in 2012, OneWeb wants to beam high-speed internet to the Earth from a network of low-Earth orbit satellites at an altitude of about 750 miles. OneWeb plans to launch 648 satellites in total, of which 588 satellites are required for global coverage.

The majority of satellites orbiting the Earth do so at altitudes between 160 and 2,000 kilometers. This orbital regime is called low Earth orbit, or LEO, due to the satellites’ relative closeness to the Earth. Satellites in LEO typically take between 90 minutes and 2 hours to complete one full orbit around the Earth.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its heaviest rocket, LVM3, for the sixth consecutive time from the Sriharikota spaceport. The rocket successfully placed 36 satellites belonging to the UK-based OneWeb group company into their intended orbits.

The launch took place at 9 a.m. from the second launch pad situated approximately 135 kilometers away from Chennai, following a 24.5-hour countdown.

This marks the 18th launch for the OneWeb Group, while it is ISRO’s second mission of 2023, with the SSLV/D2-EOS07 mission in February being the first.

Significance of This launch:

The upcoming launch will be the 18th for OneWeb, and it will expand the UK-based company’s existing constellation of 582 satellites.

As per the contract signed between ISRO’s commercial arm NSIL and OneWeb, a total of 72 satellites are set to be launched in two phases. The first phase, which included 36 satellites, was successfully launched on October 23, 2022, in the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission.

This marks the second OneWeb fleet that India is launching, paving the way for the country’s foray into the commercial heavy lift-off space.

About OneWeb Constellation:

The OneWeb Constellation operates in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Polar Orbit, where the satellites are arranged in 12 rings, also known as orbital planes.

Each orbital plane consists of 49 satellites, and they are inclined to be near-polar at an inclination of 87.9 degrees.

The satellites are placed at an altitude of 1200 km above the Earth’s surface, and each satellite completes a full trip around the Earth every 109 minutes.

LVM3 M3/ OneWeb India-2 Mission is accomplished successfully. In its sixth consecutive successful flight of LVM3, the vehicle placed 36 satellites belonging to the OneWeb Group Company in their intended 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 87.4 degrees.

The vehicle took off with a total payload of 5,805 kg at 09:00:20 hours IST from the second launch pad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. It achieved satellite injection conditions in about 17 minutes and began injecting the satellites from the twentieth minute. The vehicle performed a sophisticated maneuver to orient in orthogonal directions and injected the satellites into precise orbits with defined time gaps to avoid collision of the satellites.

 

Blog By: Trupti Thakur