On Sunday, India launched an LVM 3-M3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3) rocket with 36 satellites on board from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 9 AM (Indian Standard Time) to low Earth orbit.
"The lift-off of the 43.5-meter tall rocket, weighing 5,805 kgs, will be placed into a 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of about 87.4 degrees,” the ISRO informed.
Low Earth orbit satellites are generally less than 1,000 km above Earth, and are used as space stations, for satellite photography, etc.
However, all 36 of the satellites launched that were meant to provide broadband connectivity will be placed roughly 600 km above the Earth's surface.
Each satellite is separated at an altitude of 4 km to prevent an inter-plane collision, the Indian space agency said.
The UK’s OneWeb Group did the launch in collaboration with the ISRO’s commercial branch NewSpace India Ltd. OneWeb has to launch 72 satellites for India - half of which it launched in October 2022.
The LVM 3 is the Indian space agency's newest medium-heavy lift launch vehicle, the heaviest rocket currently in use. It was previously called the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III). The rocket was originally designed to launch satellites into geostationary orbit at 35,000km.
Within 19 minutes of launch, the rocket successfully placed the satellites into the lower orbit.
The OneWeb constellation is a network of satellites around the planet that is aimed at providing broadband connectivity across the world. The UK company is implementing a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites. India’s Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb.