Big leap for India’s space diplomacy! ISRO’s PSLV to launch Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 in February 2021

South American countries are approaching ISRO for cooperation in space at different levels.

ISRO Latest News: The Amazonia 1 satellite which will be launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now on its way onboard an Emirates B777 plane. This was loaded at São José dos Campos Airport (SP). This announcement was made by Clezio de Nardin, director of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE / MCTI). India’s ambassador to Brazil Suresh K Reddy had in an interaction told Financial Express Online recently that the indigenously developed Brazilian Remote Sensing Satellite, Amazonia-I is scheduled to be launched on a PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) of ISRO early next year.

Though date/month has been officially announced, sources have confirmed that the launch could take place in February 2021. It was earlier scheduled for July, however, had to be pushed for later due to the global pandemic of COVID -19.

More about the Brazilian Satellite

This has been designed and assembled locally in Brazil. Tested in Brazil this will be the first satellite for Earth Observation.

It will be a primary payload and will not be hitchhiking satellite.

It has almost six kilometres of wires, 14,000 electrical connections.

The Amazonia 1 satellite will be the third Brazilian remote sensing satellite which will be operational along with CBERS-4 and CBERS-4A.

It is a synchronous (polar) Sun orbit satellite and will be generating images of the planet every 5 days.

It has a wide-view optical imager (camera with three frequency bands in the VIS visible spectrum and a band near the Near Infrared or NIR infrared).

These cameras are capable of observing a range of approximately 850 km with a resolution of 64 meters.

The Amazonia series satellites are capable of having two independent modules: a Service Module, which is the Multi-mission Platform (PMM); and a Payload Module, which houses imaging cameras and equipment for recording and transmitting image data.

Space Cooperation between India & Brazil

As reported earlier in 2014, at the end of the 6th edition of the BRICS Summit, India and Brazil had inked an agreement which focused on Brazil setting up the earth station to receive data from Indian satellites.

And towards this, ISRO has been training the scientists from Brazil for operating the station as well as gathering data through remote sensing.

In early 2000, both countries inked an agreement at the Government to Government Level for Space Cooperation. And under that agreement, Brazil started receiving data from Resourcesat-1 satellite of India between October 2009-September 2013. And from October 2014 it has been receiving data from Resourcesat-2.

Also, India is getting tracking support from ground stations which are located Alcantara and Cuiaba, in Brazil, on a commercial basis. And, this tracking support is for Indian satellites and other space programmes including Chandrayaan-I, Megha Tropiques, MOM, and ASTROSAT.

The reason for the launch

The images that will come from this satellite is going to help in not only monitoring but also observing the deforestation of the Amazon Region. It is critical to monitor more so after the huge fires in that region. The images gathered are also expected to help in the agricultural and vegetation areas, monitoring of coastal zones and other related applications.

South American countries are approaching ISRO for cooperation in space at different levels. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia are among some of the countries who already have a Space Cooperation with ISRO. Countries like Paraguay are keen to have cooperation with ISRO as it wants to stay away from China.

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