36 OneWeb satellites

36 OneWeb satellites
 

News: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)’s GSLV-Mk3/LVM3 has successfully launched the second batch of 36 Oneweb satellites into Low Earth Orbit.
 

About:
 OneWeb is a global communication network powered from space, enabling connectivity for governments and businesses.
 Bharti Enterprises is a major investor in OneWeb group, which is engaged in the implementation of the constellation of low earth satellites.
 OneWeb Group has signed an agreement with ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) to launch 72 satellites into Low-Earth orbits(LEO).
 The first set of 36 satellites for OneWeb was launched in 2022. This was the eighteenth launch of OneWeb satellites bringing the constellation’s total number of satellites to 618.
 OneWeb intends to use 588 active satellites in its first-generation constellation to provide global connectivity at high speed and low latency.
 This was the sixth launch for India’s heaviest rocket LVM-3 – which includes the launch of Chandrayaan2 in 2019 – and the second one where it demonstrated the capability of launching multiple satellites in low earth orbit (LEO).
 

Commercial significance of opening up India’s space sector:
 At the moment, inspite of India’s achievements in space sector, our share in global commercial market stands at meagre 2%.
 India plans to increase its share in commercial space market to 10% by 2030 with help of space startups in private sectors such as Agnikul cosmos, Skyroot, Digantara and in co-ordination with ISRO.
 ISRO has also developed Small satellite launch vehicles which will help scale our launch missions at low cost, cater to operations on demand at short notice etc.
 Till date, ISRO has launched 384 foreign satellites from at least 36 countries, with at least 10 dedicated commercial missions and several other Indian missions where they were carried as co-passenger satellites. The highest number of these commercial launches have been by companies from the United States.
 The participation of private sector in space will improve competitiveness and promote innovations which will significantly boost the prestige of India’s space industry.