ISRO all set for 1st commercial launch of 36 satellites today

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, October 22

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the first commercial launch of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-III rocket to place 36 communication satellites by UK company OneWeb into space in the early hours tomorrow.

The satellite vehicle will take off from launch pad no.2 at Satish Dhawan Spaceport at Sriharikota at seven minutes past midnight on Sunday. While ISRO has carried out a number of commercial launches with its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), this is the first commercial launch of the heavy-lift GSLV rocket with a cryogenic upper stage.

Won’t end India’s foreign dependence

• The success of the mission would not bring to an end India’s dependence on foreign launch services for sending its heavy communication satellites into space
• GSLV MK-III has a carrying capacity of 8 tonne to the Low Earth Orbit and 4 tonne to the Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO)
• ISRO will have to hire services of foreign companies for launching satellites weighing more than 4 tonne to the GTO

The GSLV Mk-III rocket, re-designated by ISRO as LVM-3 (launch vehicle mark 3), is slated to release the satellites at the low earth orbit (LEO) of 601 km above the earth.

From the lift-off to the release of the satellites, the mission will take around 19 minutes. ISRO has previously carried out four launches with the GSLV Mk-III rocket, including the Chandrayaan2 mission in 2019. Tomorrow’s mission is being undertaken as part of the commercial arrangement entered into by New Space India Limited, a central public sector undertaking under the Department of Space, and M/s Network Access Associates Ltd, a UK-based company in which India’s Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor. OneWeb, a global communication network enabling connectivity to governments, businesses and communities, is implementing a constellation consisting 648 satellites. It had previously sent its satellites into space by using commercial launch services provided by the Russians. They snapped ties with their Russian partner in the wake of the Ukraine war.