Kochi: ISRO launched London-based satellite company OneWeb’s 36 satellites to augment fits worldwide broadband internet system today. The ISRO used its heaviest rocket to launch the 5,796 kg payload past midnight from Sriharikota near Chennai.
With this the number of satellites sent into orbit by OneWeb goes up to 462 that turns out to be more than 70 per cent of its target to bolster internet missions.
London-based OneWeb is partly owned by the British government and it is offering high speed broadband connections to beta customers. It is planning to make another launch late this year after which will pull coverage closer to the equator.
It took an hour and a half to get all the satellites loaded at an altitude of 600 km.
OneWeb was earlier planning to launch the satellites on Soyuz rockets in Russia, but the Ukraine war forced it to cancel the program.
Founded in 2012, OneWeb has an office in Virginia in the US and a satellite building facility in Florida.
Photo Credit: Twitter
