It was a historic moment for India’s space programme as a rocket of ISRO soared into the pitch-dark sky from the spaceport at Sriharikota carrying 36 satellites, the heaviest payload mass of 5,796 kg of LVM3 till date. The text-book launch of the LVM3-M2 OneWeb India-1 Mission marks the success of the first dedicated commercial satellite mission of New Space India Ltd (NSIL). The LVM3-M2 has now made a strong entry into the global commercial launch service market, an example of Atmanirbharta. The 36 satellites belonged to Network Access Associated Ltd (OneWeb), a joint venture between India’s Bharti Global and the UK Government. OneWeb partnership with ISRO via space agency’s commercial arm NSIL has fulfilled commitment to provide connectivity across the length and breadth of India by 2023, from Ladakh to Kanyakumari and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh. OneWeb will bring secured solutions not only to enterprises but also to towns, villages, municipalities and schools, including the hardest-to-reach areas across the country. This launch is more so special making it possible for ISRO to put behind the anomaly experienced in its August Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission, that had then made the satellites unusable due to orbital issues. This time all the 36 satellites were injected into the orbits after the rocket blasted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 12.07 am, while 16 satellites been placed in the desired orbits immediately and the rest after some time.
Most important LVM3 launch vehicle is built on completely indigenous technology, again tested as in the past during the critical launch of Chandrayaan-2 mission. The vehicle underwent several critical tests as a part of human rating for the future ISRO Gaganyaan programme. The cryo stage was uniquely designed to orient and re-orient in orthogonal direction to meet the customer requirements of injecting satellites precisely and with a gap to avoid collision. The vehicle was conceptualised and built in a short span of time on a demand-driven basis to meet the user’s timeline. Under PM Modi’s guidance, constant support and encouragement ISRO has been achieving new yard sticks month after month year after year consistently, sky is the limit and ISRO scientists deserve full credit for this Diwali gift to India, a lifetime moment to cherish and remember indeed.
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