ISRO’s first mission in 2021: Countdown for Amazonia-1 launch begins

Nellore, Andhra Pradesh: ISRO will launch the PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 satellite mission tomorrow. The launch will take place at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

“Countdown for the launch of #PSLVC51/Amazonia-1 mission commenced today at 08:54 am from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is scheduled tomorrow at 10:24 am,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

https://twitter.com/isro/status/1365519064236318721

Primary satellite Amazonia-1 of Brazil and 18 co-passenger satellites onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51) are scheduled to be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Sriharikota Range (SHAR) on February 28, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here on Thursday.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51), which is the 53rd mission of PSLV, will launch Amazonia-1 of Brazil as primary satellite and 18 Co-passenger satellites. The time of  lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is 10:24 am on Sunday.

(Launch of PSLV-C50 in December, 2020)

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a company under the Department of Space of the Indian govt. The NSIL is undertaking this mission under their commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc. USA.

Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). This satellite will strengthen the existing structure for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region. This satellite will provide remote sensing data to the users and will further improve the monitoring and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

The 18 co-passenger satellites include four from IN-SPACe (three UNITYsats from the consortium of three Indian academic institutes and One Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India) and 14 from NSIL.