Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on successfully launch of 36 satellites of the OneWeb broadband constellation into orbits with the help of Launch Vehicle Mark III (LVM3).
LVM3 is India’s heaviest launch vehicle that injected 36 satellites in five phases.
“Congratulate ISRO on successfully placing 36 One Web satellites into orbits with the help of LVM3. This successful multi-satellite mission with the heaviest payload mass will further help advancing communication technology,” tweeted CM Naveen Patnaik.
The space agency at 01:42 am announced, “LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is completed successfully. All the 36 satellites have been placed into intended orbits,” after a tracking blackout during which 20 of the satellites were deployed.
Isro chairperson S Somanath, wishing everyone a happy Diwali, said that the space agency had started the celebration a little early. He also announced that the same launch vehicle would carry another 36 OneWeb satellites in its next LVM-M3 launch.
This was a mission of many firsts for the space agency. The space agency at 01:42 am announced, “LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is completed successfully. All the 36 satellites have been placed into intended orbits,” after a tracking blackout during which 20 of the satellites were deployed.
This was the first time that this launch vehicle carried multiple satellites and launched them in low earth orbit. This was also the first time any of India’s rockets carried a 6-ton payload to space.
Before the LVM3 was operationalized – its first operational mission after two development flight Chandrayaan 2 – several of the 2 to 5-ton GSAT satellites were launched by European launch provider Arianespace.
