The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scripted history on Sunday morning when it launched its heaviest rocket, the LVM3-M2, on its debut commercial mission. The rocket carrying 36 satellites was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota as part of the space agency’s OneWeb India-1 mission.
ISRO has successfully launched 36 broadband communication satellites of a UK-based customer into the targeted orbits with the LVM3-M2 rocket, making the mission “historic” for the country, said the space agency.
OneWeb Ltd is a UK-based customer of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), ISRO’s commercial arm and a worldwide communication network powered by space that enables governments and businesses to connect to the internet. Bharti Enterprises is a significant investor in OneWeb.
The Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3) is ISRO’s latest medium-heavy lift launch vehicle and the space agency’s heaviest rocket. The rocket, formerly identified as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), is designed to primarily launch satellites into geostationary orbit at 35,000 kilometres.
This was the heaviest payload carried by an Indian launch vehicle, weighing 6 tons. ISRO declared the mission success at 0142 hours IST.
The rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle with two solid propellant strap-ons on its flanks and a core stage with an L110 liquid stage and a C25 cryogenic stage. OneWeb is installing a Low Earth Orbit constellation of 648 satellites.
Early on Sunday, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that Deepavali had begun early for the space agency’s scientists.
“The LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is successfully completed. All 36 satellites have been placed into their intended orbits. @OneWeb @NSIL India,” ISRO announced in a tweet minutes after Somanath’s announcement that 16 satellites had been deployed in the appropriate orbits, with the rest taking some time.
LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is completed successfully. All the 36 satellites have been placed into intended orbits. @NSIL_India @OneWeb
— ISRO (@isro) October 22, 2022
Interestingly, ISRO Chairman S Somnath performed a special Pooja for the mission’s success on Saturday at the Chengalamma Parameshwari Devi Temple in Sullurpeta, Tirupati district.
Former ISRO chiefs K Sivan and A S Kiran Kumar, as well as Sunil Mittal, founder-chairman of Bharti Enterprises, witnessed the launch from the Mission Control Centre. Somnath, also the Secretary of the Department of Space, described the mission as “historic,” and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s backing for the mission’s success.
In complementing the ISRO team for a ‘commendable’ mission of LVM3, NSIL Chairman and Managing Director D Radhakrishnan stated, “the three major stakeholders to this particular mission, the NSIL, ISRO, and OneWeb India, have shown the entire world how to contract and execute the mission in less than 3-4 months.”
PM Modi took to Twitter to congratulate ISRO and the team for the success of the mission. “Congratulations @NSIL_India @INSPACeIND @ISRO on the successful launch of our heaviest launch vehicle LVM3 with 36 OneWeb satellites meant for global connectivity. LVM3 exemplifies Atmanirbharta & enhances India’s competitive edge in the global commercial launch service market,” he tweeted.
Congratulations @NSIL_India @INSPACeIND @ISRO on the successful launch of our heaviest launch vehicle LVM3 with 36 OneWeb satellites meant for global connectivity. LVM3 exemplifies Atmanirbharta & enhances India’s competitive edge in the global commercial launch service market.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 23, 2022
GSLV Mk III to LVM3: A journey of success
The GSLV Mk III’s development began in the early 2000s, along with the development of the cryogenic upper stage, which ISRO has been attempting to develop in a bid to decrease dependence on the currently-used Russian design. The inability of the upper stage to ignite in consecutive GSLV MkII flights resulted in a delay in the first test flight of the GSLV MkIII.
The rocket’s maiden experimental flight (also known as a developmental or test flight) was originally planned for the early 2010s but was pushed back to accommodate the Mars Orbiter Mission, which launched in 2013.
Notably, the rocket and its boosters were static fire tested in 2010, 2011, and 2015. This year also saw static fire tests for the human-rated variant of the rocket, which is being developed for the Gaganyaan program. In 2017, the cryogenic upper stage was also successfully tested.
The launch vehicle made its maiden operational flight on July 22, 2019, with Chandrayaan 2. This mission’s 4-tonne payload was the heaviest payload taken to orbit by ISRO at the time.
