It is a successful launch this Sunday March 26 of 36 satellites for the Indian space industry, and a crowning achievement of the LVM 3 rocket developed by the Indian Space Research Organization. India has thus just completed a program to place 618 satellites in low orbit, carried out for the OneWeb commercial program.
With our correspondent in Bangalore, Como Bastin
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the launch, which concludes a series of 18 successful launches on behalf of the OneWeb company. “ This reinforces India’s leading role as a global provider of commercial space launch services, as well as its strategic autonomy. “, he wrote on Twitter.
One Web is supported by the Indian multinational Bharti, the British government and the French company Eutelsat. This program aims to place in low orbit a constellation of mini-satellites intended for high-speed Internet everywhere in the world.
The craft were originally to be launched from Russia, but the war in Ukraine upset the plans. India has thus inherited its greatest commercial space opportunity, with test value for its in-house LVM 3 launcher.
In total, India will have put more than 600 of these satellites into orbit. A success that New Delhi is counting on to attract other trade missions. Although she is one of the great space players in the civilian sector, India currently represents only 2% of this market.