GSLV MkIII to make industrial foray by launching 36 OneWeb satellites on Oct 23

Indian Space Research Organisation’s heaviest rocket, GSLV MkIII, is ready to launch 36 satellites of the OneWeb communication constellation from the nation’s solely area port at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 7 am on October 23. With this the GSLV MkIII will enter the worldwide industrial launch service market.

In a tweet, the ISRO stated: “LVM3 – M2/OneWeb India-1 Mission: Launch scheduled at 0007 hrs. IST on October 23, 2022. Cryo stage, equipment bay (EB) assembly completed. Satellites are encapsulated and assembled in the vehicle. Final vehicle checks are in progress.”

The area company has additionally thrown open the viewing gallery for the individuals to witness the launch, which has been carried out for the primary time because the pandemic began.

The launch aboard India’s heaviest rocket was bought by the United Kingdom-based Network Access Associated Limited by means of the New Space India Limited, one of many industrial arms of the area company. Bharti group-backed OneWeb is a constellation of satellites in low earth orbit to offer broadband providers.

This is the primary time that India’s heaviest rocket is getting used for a industrial launch. Also, it will the primary time a rocket aside from India’s workhorse – Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) – is getting used to hold out industrial launch.

Since its first operational flight, the PSLV has carried out at the very least eight commercial-only launches. The car has established itself within the international market, having launched at the very least 345 international satellites from 36 international locations, with its most notable flight being the 2017 PSLV-C37 mission that put 104 satellites in orbits (of which 101 have been international industrial satellites).

This would be the second flight of the GSLV Mk III — after it joined the ISRO fleet having accomplished two growth flights — because it carried India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2.

The different heavier launch car, GSLV, has a spottier report with fourteen launches thus far, together with the event flights. However, solely eight of the missions have been an entire success. None of those missions have been industrial ones.

India at the moment has three operational launch autos – the PSLV, GSLV, and GSLV Mk III. The area company has additionally developed a small satellite tv for pc launch car, whose first growth flight earlier this yr was partially profitable.

The authorities opened up the area sector for personal gamers in 2020, selling new actions by current ISRO collaborators and in addition encouraging start-ups that supply full gamut of actions from launch providers, satellite tv for pc growth, to down-stream functions. There are over 100 start-ups within the nation now. The intention of opening up the sector was to permit the personal gamers to supply routine area providers whereas ISRO focuses on scientific missions.