Chennai: The Indian space agency is gearing up to launch the next set of 36 satellites of the UK-based Network Access Associated Ltd. (OneWeb) in January 2023 by testing the crucial cryogenic engine of its rocket LVM3.
What is an acceptance hot test and where did ISRO test the engines:
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the flight acceptance hot test of a CE-20 engine was successfully carried out for a duration of 25 seconds in the High Altitude Test facility of the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri.
This engine is earmarked for the LVM3-M3 mission, identified for the launch of the next set of 36 OneWeb India-1 satellites, ISRO said.
The cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 vehicle with a stage) is powered by a CE-20 engine working with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen (LOX-LH2) propellants combination.
This engine develops a nominal thrust of 186.36 kN in vacuum.
Main objective for acceptance test:
The major objectives of the flight acceptance test are to confirm the integrity of the hardware, assess the subsystems' performance, and tune the engine to meet the mission requirements parameters for engine tuning for flight operation.
Analysis of test data confirmed the satisfactory performance of the engine systems.
This engine will be assembled to the C25 flight stage being integrated for thearm,M3 M3 rocket.
ISRO's contract:
ISRO's commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), has signed a contract with OneWeb to launch 72 satellites in two phases for a launch fee of over Rs 1,000 crore, said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, OneWeb.
The orbiting of the first set of 36 satellites happened successfully on Oct 23 from Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh with the LVM3 rocket, also known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII (GSLV MkIII).
OneWeb plans to have a constellation of 648 satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) to offer its broadband services across the world.
