Indian Space Research Organisations' heaviest rocket LVM3-M2 on its maiden commercial mission on Sunday successfully placed 36 broadband communication satellites of a UK-based customer into the intended orbits, the space agency said, describing the mission as 'historic'. OneWeb Ltd is the UK-based customer of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), ISRO's commercial arm, and a global communication network powered from space, enabling internet connectivity for governments and businesses. Bharti Enterprises is one of the major investors in OneWeb. With Sunday's success, ISRO put behind the anomaly experienced in its August 7 Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission, that had then made the satellites unusable. Early on Sunday, a beaming ISRO Chairman S Somanath announced Deepavali had started early for the scientists at the space agency. "LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is completed successfully. All the 36 satellites have been placed into intended orbits. @NSIL_India @OneWeb," ISRO said in a
The SSLV is third launch vehicle of the research organisation after Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
EOS-01 is an earth observation satellite intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support
This will be Isro's first satellite launch amid the Covid-19 pandemic
At present, rockets are launched from Isro's spaceport at Sriharikotta. The Centre is setting up a second facility due to increase in the number of launches by Isro for domestic and global customers
ISRO has planned some 500 Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launches in the next five years, a press release quoting Haridas said
We have all imagined space phases as children - but only through Western toys, films, Nasa's success
The satellite, which has a lifespan of 10 years, features advanced spacecraft technologies