OneWeb set to launch 36 satellites from Sriharikota

Bharti Group-backed OneWeb will launch three dozen new satellites from Sriharikota in India to achieve 70% deployment of its planned low-earth orbit (LEO) constellation, after it had to suspend launches from a key spaceport in Kazakhstan amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

On Tuesday, OneWeb said ahead of the launch, the 36 satellites had arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation's rocket launch centre at Sriharikota off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

OneWeb had earlier signed an agreement with NewSpace India, the commercial arm of the ISRO, to use the India-built PSLV (polar satellite launch vehicle) and the heavier GSLV-MkIII (geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) as potential platforms to launch its satellites from India this year.


OneWeb's rollout of broadband-from-space services in India has been pushed back to at least August 2023, as the company was unable to conclude its LEO satellites launches amid the crisis in Ukraine. A delay in India announcing its spacecom policy has also affected the service launch.