The PSLV-C51-Amazonia-1 mission, the first launch of 2021 from the first launch pad from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 10.24 hours on February 28, 2021 augurs well for India-Brazil ties. Also, it is the first commercial launch for the entity New Space India Limited (NSIL).
The NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercial arrangement with the Spaceflight Inc of the US. The PSLV-C51 will launch the Amazonia-1 as the primary satellite along with other satellites. It reconfirms the confidence of foreign agencies on PSLV.
“It is a proof for reiteration of the fact that foreign agencies are choosing the PSLV as their first choice to go to orbit even after the pandemic. Amazonia-1 is an earth observation satellite trying to go to Sun Synchronous Orbit and PSLV does the job with utmost precision for this orbit. This is also significant launch for India as it shows the hard work that went behind a smooth transition in allowing NSIL lead the way in opening up commercial access to space,” said Rohan M. Ganapathy, CEO and CTO of Bellatrix.
Amazonia is an optical earth observation satellite completely designed, integrated, tested and operated by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) Brazil. The Amazonia mission will provide remote-sensing data for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory. Amazonia-1 has a mass of 637 kgs and has a wide-field imaging camera. It is equipped with Lithium ion batteries and two solar arrays. Its mission life is expected to be more than four years.
Besides the primary satellite there are co-passenger satellites, including Satish Dhawan Sat (SDSAT), a nano satellite built by Space Kidz India intended to study the radiation levels, space weather and has the capability to demonstrate long-range communication technologies. Then there is UNITYsat, a combination of three satellites jointly developed by the Jeppiar Institute of Technology Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, GH Raisoni College of Engineering in Nagpur, Maharashtra and Shri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This satellite will provide radio relay services. In addition, among others, there is satellite SPACE BEEs from the United States.
“The mission is significant as it is the first commercial launch for NSIL and all the payloads are either commercial or academic. The mission is also special because the primary payload Amazonia is an Earth observation satellite from Brazil and it will strengthen the relations between Brazil and India, two BRICS countries,” observed Prateep Basu, Founder and CEO of SatSure Analytics.
However, as per reports, the first satellite 'Anand' from the Indian Space start-up Pixxel ran into certain software glitches and will not be part of the payload. Even ISRO's nano satellite INS-2DT will also not be part of the mission as it too faced certain technical issues and will not be making the flight.
