Sriharikota, Feb 28,2021: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISR0)launched the Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday at around 10:24 am. Along with Amazonia-1, 18 other co-passenger satellites also were also onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51). The countdown for the launch had begun on Saturday. It is important to note here that this will be ISRO’s first mission of the year 2021.
According to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engraved picture on a co-passenger satellite and sending Bhagavad Gita on-board in electronic format are some of the notable aspects of the launch. “PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL),” ISRO’s commercial arm, the statement said. NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercial arrangement with Seattle, US-based satellite rideshare and mission management provider, Spaceflight Inc.
Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). “This satellite would further strengthen the existing structure by providing remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory”, the statement said.
The 18 co-passenger satellites include four from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (three UNITYsats from a consortium of three Indian academic institutes and one Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India) and 14 from NSIL.
