LVM3-M3 / OneWeb India-2 Mission is accomplished successfully. In its sixth consecutive successful flight of LVM3, the vehicle placed 36 satellites belonging to the OneWeb Group Company in their intended 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 87.4 degrees. The vehicle took off with a total payload of 5,805 kg at 09:00:20 hours IST from the second launch pad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. It achieved satellite injection conditions in about 17 minutes and began injecting the satellites from the twentieth minute. The vehicle performed a sophisticated manoeuvre to orient in orthogonal directions and injected the satellites into precise orbits with defined time-gaps to avoid collision of the satellites.
OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. India's Bharti Enterprises serves as a major investor and shareholder in OneWeb. This is OneWeb's 18th launch, its third this year, bringing the total of OneWeb's constellation to 618 satellites. This launch is a major milestone for the company, with the number of satellites now in-orbit enabling global service, the first LEO operator to reach this milestone. OneWeb will soon be ready to roll out its global coverage.
• OneWeb Gen-1 is a 150 kg class satellite
• The constellation comprises of 648 individual satellites.
• 588 Active Satellites divided among 12 planes operate at an 1200 km above the Earth's surface
• Each plane is separated in altitude by 4 km (~2.5 mi) to prevent inter-plane 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