The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to launch the second batch of OneWeb Satellites on March 26.
ISRO will launch 36 satellites belonging to OneWeb, the Low Earth Observation satellite (LEO) communications company which is backed by Bharati Enterprises.
The 36 satellites launched by ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota are the second batch of satellites to be launched from India.
In October last year, 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites were launched as part of a commercial agreement between NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) which is ISRO’s commercial arm and OneWeb Ltd.
OneWeb on March 9 successfully deployed 40 satellites, which were launched by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The recent launch was the penultimate mission to complete OneWeb’s Gen 1 LEO satellite constellation.
“OneWeb’s first-generation (Gen 1) LEO satellite constellation and enable global coverage in 2023. With 582 satellites now in orbit, OneWeb will complete its global footprint of the Gen 1 constellation with a launch scheduled for later this month with ISRO/NSIL,” OneWeb said.
“Today’s launch is an exciting milestone as we are now just one mission away from completing our Gen 1 constellation, which will activate global service in 2023,” Neil Masterson, Chief Executive Officer of OneWeb had said after the successful launch.
Last year, NSIL signed two launch service contracts with Network Access Associated Limited (OneWeb) for launching OneWeb LEO Broadband Communication Satellites on-board LVM3.
NSIL said that this contract with OneWeb is a historic milestone for NSIL and ISRO, as LVM3, is making its entry into the global commercial launch service market.
