ISRO puts 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit

Source: The post is based on the article “ISRO puts 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit” published in The Hindu on 27th March 2023.

What is the News?

The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO)’s GSLV-Mk3/LVM3 has successfully launched the second batch of 36 Oneweb satellites into Low Earth Orbit.

About OneWeb satellites

OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments and businesses.

Bharti Enterprises is a major investor in OneWeb group, which is engaged in the implementation of the constellation of low earth satellites.

OneWeb Group has signed an agreement with ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd to launch 72 satellites into Low-Earth orbits(LEO).

The first set of 36 satellites for OneWeb was launched in 2022. This is the second launch.

This was the eighteenth launch of OneWeb satellites bringing the constellation’s total number of satellites to 618. 

OneWeb intends to use 588 active satellites in its first-generation constellation to provide global connectivity at high speed and low latency.

Significance: This was the sixth launch for India’s heaviest rocket LVM-3 – which includes the launch of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 – and the second one where it demonstrated the capability of launching multiple satellites in low earth orbit (LEO).

About India’s share in the commercial space market

India has been concentrating on increasing its share of the global commercial space market ever since the country decided to open the space sector to private players in 2020. 

It is one of the world’s major space-faring nations, but it only has 2% of the commercial market at the moment.

Till date, ISRO has launched 384 foreign satellites from at least 36 countries, with at least 10 dedicated commercial missions and several other Indian missions where they were carried as co-passenger satellites. The highest number of these commercial launches have been by companies from the United States.

India plans to increase its 2% share in the commercial market to 10% by 2030 through commercial launches by ISRO and launches offered by private companies like Skyroot and Agnikul, which are in the process of developing their own launch vehicles.

Keeping this in mind, ISRO has also developed the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), which is meant to provide on-demand launch services commercially.