ISRO PSLV-C51 to Launch Brazilian Satellite Amazonia-1 and 20 Other Satellites: All You Need to Know

ISRO has just officially announced its next launch mission. ISRO PSLV-C51, which marks the 53rd mission of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, will launch on 28 February 2021 Brazilian Satellite Amazonia-1 as the primary satellite and 20 Co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch has been scheduled at 10:23 am IST subject to weather conditions.

PSLV-C51 is the first dedicated commercial mission of the newly formed NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Government of India company under the Department of Space. NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc. USA. The 20 co-passenger satellites include one from ISRO (INS-2TD), four from IN-SPACe (three UNITYsats from a consortium of three Indian academic institutes and One Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India) and 15 from NSIL.

All You Need to Know About ISRO PSLV-C51 and Amazonia-1 Satellite

Amazonia-1 is the first Earth observation satellite that has been completely designed, integrated, tested and operated by Brazil. The satellite will be at a height of 700 km and will provide remote sensing data in the form of images to observe and monitor deforestation, especially in the Amazon region. As of today, the Amazonia 1 satellite fully mounted on the separation system of the launch vehicle, as shared by the official Twitter handle of the Brazilian Embassy.

Th2 project is being coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations of Brazil, and has been developed by the National Institute for Space Research in partnership with the Brazilian Space Agency. Last week the technical team from the Brazilian Space Research Institute wrapped up the preparation of the Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 at SDSC in Sriharikota.

As far as the three UNITYsats are concerned, Dr K Sivan, Secretary, DOS/Chairman, ISRO recently inaugurated the Ground stations established for UNITYsat, the combination of three satellites designed and built as a Joint Development by Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumpudur (JITsat), GH Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (Sri Shakthi Sat). The ground stations located at Chennai, Nagpur and Coimbatore will be a network for monitoring the UNITYsat in orbit which will be launched by ISRO PSLV-C51.