Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the Amazonia – 1 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as a primary payload by August 2020. Amazonia -1 is Brazil’s first satellite for Earth observation – designed, assembled and tested in Brazil.
Purpose of Amazonia -1:
i.Amazonia – 1 will help in observing and monitoring the deforestation in the region of Amazon through the satellite images.
ii.The importance of this satellite has increased due to the recent forest fire in amazon.
iii.The images from the Brazilian satellite will also help in the agriculture and vegetation sector.
Space cooperation between India and Brazil:
i.Under the government to government level agreement between India and Brazil, Brazil started receiving data from the Resourcesat-1 satellite of India from October 2009 to September 2013 and from Resourcesat-2 since October 2014.
ii.Tracking support for Indian satellites and space programmes including Chandrayaan-I, Megha Tropiques, MOM, and ASTROSAT were provided from the Brazilian ground stations in Alcantara and Cuiaba on commercial basis.
Agreement of Cooperation between Brazil and India:
i.India and Brazil signed the agreement of Cooperation in the 6th BRICS Summit in 2014 on setting up a brazilian earth station to receive data from the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites(IRS) series.
ii.The brazilian scientists are trained at the ISRO facility to operate the station and to gather the data from the satellites through remote sensing.
iii.Under the agreement ISRO should make the data from its projects available to the National Institute for Space Research((Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – INPE).
Key Points:
i.The launch of Amazonia -1 is one of the 36 space and satellite missions of ISRO that has been scheduled over the next two years including the Chandrayaan-3, uncrewed mission for Gaganyaan.
ii.Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia have space cooperation agreements with ISRO at different levels because of ISRO’s commercial consideration.
iii.The cost effective programmes of ISRO have attracted multiple countries all over the world.
About ISRO:
Chairman– Dr.K. Sivan (Secretary of Department of Space(DoS))
Headquarters– Bengaluru, Karnataka
About National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – INPE):
Interim Director– Darcton Policarpo Damião
Location– São José dos Campos, Brazil
