On Sunday, ISRO will use its LVM3 rocket to launch the second batch of 36 OneWeb satellites from Sriharikota. The Bharti Enterprise-backed UK business will complete its network of around 600 low-Earth-orbit satellites in space if the launch is successful, opening the way for the delivery of space-based broadband internet services to every region of the globe.
On Monday, ISRO posted a tweet saying, “LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 mission. The launch is scheduled for March 26, 2023, at 0900 hours IST from the second launch pad at SDSC-SHAriharikota.”
The 18th launch for OneWeb will take 36 satellites into orbit on Sunday, expanding its current constellation of 582 satellites. Forty OneWeb satellites were sent into orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket on March 9.
For a launch cost of over Rs 1,000 crore, OneWeb and Isro’s commercial unit NSIL agreed to launch 72 satellites over the course of two launches. Then, on October 23 of previous year, the first group of 36 Oneweb satellites was successfully launched from Sriharikota.
OneWeb will connect cities, villages, and local and regional municipalities in the most difficult-to-reach locations with Bharti as its principal investor, helping to bridge the digital divide in India. According to the company, OneWeb and its partners can link more rural and distant businesses and communities to the internet with each new location they cover.
Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe are among the nations above 50 degrees north latitude where OneWeb has already begun offering internet services from space.
