Indian rocket carrying 36 satellites of the British company left for orbit
London-based satellite company One Web has relaunched its global broadband internet system with the launch of 36 spacecraft.
The system was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and was launched by a GSLV rocket from Srihari Kota Island for low-Earth orbit.
One Web's efforts to deploy its telecommunications network into orbit were halted in March because it was to be sent by Russian Soyuz rockets, but it was forced to suspend the use of Russian rockets.
After Sunday's launch, the total number of satellites in orbit above the Earth has now increased to 462.This will give One Web more than 70% of their total requirement for worldwide coverage. This is their first-generation satellite cluster.
The company is part-owned by the British government and is expected to be fully rolled out by the middle of next year. Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is India's largest and most reliable rocket. It took off from the Satish Dhawan Spaceport in the central state of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday morning local time.
It took about an hour and a half to launch all the satellites at an altitude of 600 km. While it will take a few weeks to move the ion engines on the spacecraft into their operational 1,200 km polar orbit.
In March, the situation of this one web was looking very uncertain. The company's plans fell through due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The war and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia deprived the company of access to Russian Soyuz rockets.
With only two-thirds of its satellites in orbit, One Web had to move quickly to find other carriers. Contracts were signed with American rocket services company SpaceX and Relativity Space, along with New Space India Ltd, the commercial wing of India's space agency ISRO, which markets the GSLV.