Bengaluru : Indian space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created history at 12:07 after midnight on Saturday-Sunday. ISRO launched the agency’s heaviest rocket 43.5 meters long LVM-3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) carrying 36 satellites of the British startup, and entered the commercial satellite launch market.
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The launch took place from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. These communication satellites were placed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) under the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission. The LMV-3 is capable of carrying satellites up to 8,000 kg.
ISRO chairman Somnath said that there is a shortage of rockets to launch satellites in the world, in such a situation, India can bridge this gap in the global commercial satellite launch market with its LVM-3 rocket, OneWeb is a private satellite communications company and the Indian company Bharti Enterprises is a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb. He added that with this launch, LVM-3 will enter the global commercial satellite launch market.
‘LVM-3’ was earlier known as ‘GSLV Mk-3’ rocket. NewSpace India Limited, a Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) functioning under the Department of Space and the space agency’s commercial arm, has signed two launch contracts with UK-based OneWeb. OneWeb Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the company will pay over ₹1,000 crore to ISRO/NewSpace India Ltd for launching 72 satellites. The first batch of 36 satellites was launched on Saturday-Sunday midnight by LVM-3 rocket. The other 36 satellites will be launched in January next year from the LVM-3 rocket. OneWeb plans to launch 648 satellites for its broadband services around the world.