In its second operational flight, the India Space Organisation‘s (ISRO’s) LVM3 rocket placed 36 OneWeb satellites to their intended orbits. The launch vehicle took off at 0007 hrs. on October 23, 2022, from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India.
This was the fifth flight of LVM3. This was a dedicated commercial mission for a foreign customer through NSIL. A total of 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites of about 150 kg., each totaling about 5,796 kg., were launched to a circular, LEO of about 601 km. with a 87.4 degree inclination
The separation of satellites involved a unique maneuver of the cryogenic stage to orientation and then re-orientation that cover nine phases that spanned75 minutes. OneWeb confirmed the acquisition of signals from the satellites.
OneWeb Gen-1 satellites use a bent-pipe technology approach to offer communication in Ku- and Ku-bands. These constellation smallsats are arranged in 12 orbital planes with 49 satellites in each plane at 1200 km.
Calling the launch of LVM3 M2 a historic event, Shri S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, lauded the synergistic efforts between ISRO, New Space India (NSIL), and OneWeb in realizing the mission in a record time. He specifically acknowledged the design and development of an inertial navigation system at LPSC for C25 operations.
This was one of the biggest commercial orders executed by ISRO.