It's happy Diwali for ISRO, 16 of 36 satellites injected in orbit, process on

Sriharikota: It's happy Diwali for the Indian Space Agency. Marking its great entry into the commercial launch vehicle market, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) early today described the LVM-3/OneWeb mission of 36 UK satellites into a Low Earth Orbit as a successful mission.

At the time filing of this story, ISRO Chairman Dr.S.Somanath said "at this moment 16 of the total 36 satellites got separated safely as achieved."

"This is a very slow process of satellites getting separated and it will take a long time...the process is on", he added.

"The remaining 20 satellites will get separated in another 40-45 minutes and it cannot be seen", he said, addressing the scientists from the Mission Control Centre.

He said the separation of the other 20 satellites will be confirmed after the separation process was completed.

While lauding the entire ISRO team for the success of this mission, the maiden commercial venture of GSLV-MkIII, the ISRO Chief said this second effort of LVM-3, did a wonderful mission. This was possible due to the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wanted LVM to come into commercial market for exploring the launch vehicle market segment.

While lauding the entire launch vehicle team for this historical mission, Somanath exuded confidence that the next mission of LVM-3 will also be a success. (UNI)