ISRO begins countdown for launch of LVM3 rocket carrying OneWeb satellites

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Transfer Orbit (GTO).

The upcoming rocket mission code named as LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 Mission by ISRO.

Just over 19 minutes after the rocket's blast off, the process of satellite separation will begin. The separation of 36 satellites will happen in phases.

The OneWeb is backed by India's telecom major Bharti Group and with the successful launch of the satellites on March 26, the company will complete the global footprint of its Gen 1 constellation.

OneWeb has 582 satellites now in orbit. On March 26 the total number is expected to go up to 618.

By completing the constellation, OneWeb is taking a pivotal step forward in delivering global coverage including India, the company had said.

The upcoming launch will be the 18th one for OneWeb.

The first batch of 36 satellites was launched on October 23, 2022, from Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh with the LVM3 rocket formerly known as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch

Vehicle MkIII (GSLV MkIII). ISRO's commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) has signed a contract with OneWeb to launch 72 satellites in two phases for a launch fee of over Rs 1,000 crore, OneWeb Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had said last October.

OneWeb Gen-1 is a 150 kg class satellite.A The constellation comprises 648 individual satellites. Out of that 588 Active Satellites equally divided among 12 planes operate at an altitude of about 1200 km above the Earth's surface.

Each plane is separated in altitude by 4 km to prevent interplane collision.

The payload is a bent-pipe system operating in Ku and Ka band. The forward link receives Ka-band signals from the gateway via the satellite Ka antenna. The return link receives Ku-band signals from the User Terminals (UTs) via the satellite Ku antenna, ISRO said.