India launches 36 Internet satellites, delayed by war in Ukraine

India launched a rocket carrying 36 private Internet satellites early Sunday to keep the orbital constellation growing after months of disruption related to the war in Ukraine.

The launch from southern India was the first launch for London-based OneWeb since breaking with the Russian space agency in March over Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine.

“We have achieved the orbit very precisely, now the rocket is in the planned orbit,” said S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian space agency. He said 16 satellites had been put into orbit and expressed optimism that “the remaining 20 satellites will be separated as safely as the first of the 16”.

OneWeb already has 462 satellites in flight — more than 70 percent of what the company said it needs to deliver broadband services around the world. Despite this year’s outage, OneWeb said it remains on track to enable global coverage next year with a planned constellation of 648 satellites. It already provides services in the northernmost latitudes.

Each OneWeb satellite weighs about 330 pounds (150 kilograms).

It was the 14th launch of OneWeb satellites and relied on India’s heaviest rocket, usually reserved for government spacecraft. All previous OneWeb flights were with Russian rockets; the first was in 2019.

The launch is significant for India and reflects the gradual opening of its space agency to private clients, said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, director specializing in space and security at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

Rajagopalan said India is an expert in launching smaller satellites and is trying to capture that market by presenting itself as a satellite launch facility.

With the war in Ukraine still raging, this could open up an opportunity for India as many countries shun Russian launch services.

“This could drive this trend in a big way,” she said.

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