ISRO to launch biggest-ever commercial satellite on December 24
What's the story
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the BlueBird Block-2 (also known as BlueBird-6) satellite aboard its LVM3-M6 rocket on December 24. The lift-off will happen at 8:54am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This mission marks the sixth operational flight of the LVM3 and will deploy the largest commercial communications satellite ever carried by the vehicle, under a commercial contract with US-based AST SpaceMobile. The launch can be watched live on ISRO YouTube channel.
Satellite details
BlueBird Block-2: A revolutionary satellite
The BlueBird Block-2, one of the largest commercial communications satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), will be deployed into a 520km circular orbit. At 6,100kg, this will be the heaviest payload ever launched aboard LVM3 and also the first of its size and complexity to be placed in LEO. The satellite's primary objective is to provide space-based cellular broadband directly to mobile phones across the globe.
Mission significance
LVM3's role in India's human spaceflight program
The LVM3 rocket, which has a lift-off mass of 640 tons and stands 43.5 meters tall, is ISRO's most powerful launch vehicle. It has already successfully launched popular missions such as OneWeb broadband satellites and Chandrayaan-2/Chandrayaan-3. The same launch vehicle will also carry future test missions under Gaganyaan, India's human spaceflight program with uncrewed flights planned to validate human-mission systems before astronauts are sent into orbit.