OneWeb Resumes Its Network Buildout

Space-based internet provider OneWeb took a big step to continuing the build-out of its fleet of satellites with a launch at 1837 UTC from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.  Local time in India was 12:07 AM, India Standard Time on Oct. 23.  Here on the east coast of the US that was 2:37 PM on October 22. 

The launch vehicle was a GSLV Mark III, the most powerful rocket in use by the Indian Space Research Organisation.  It lifted 36 of OneWeb's broadband spacecraft into orbit. Less than two hours after launch, all 36 satellites had been successfully deployed in their intended orbits.  

"Happy Diwali to all of you, so we've started the celebration already," ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said after the successful launch, which coincided the Festival of Lights celebrations in India this weekend. "We have accomplished the orbit very accurately."

You might recall that last March when the world cut ties with Russia after the start of the war on Ukraine,  Russia responded by cancelling Roscosmos launches that had already been scheduled and, in some cases, paid for.  OneWeb was one of those customers.  It put them into quite a tight spot. 

Europe has no spare launch capacity, with all of its remaining Ariane 5 launches spoken for, and the Ariane 6 rocket is probably at least two years away from having operational capacity. Last October OneWeb and India's space program, ISRO, reached an agreement to use Indian rockets for future satellite launches. But these rockets have not demonstrated a high launch cadence since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is not clear whether India's PSLV or GSLV Mk. III vehicles will have the capacity to launch several batches of OneWeb satellites in the next 12 to 24 months.

Note that the reference to India's PSLV or GSLV Mk. III perhaps not having the capacity to launch several batches of satellites was on March 4th of this year, and this launch is close to eight months after that. OneWeb later announced a contract with SpaceX to provide more launches.  

The Indian Space Research Organisation Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for OneWeb satellite internet launches from India on Oct. 22, 2022.  ISRO Photograph