ISRO Successfully Launches Amazonia-1 & 18 other Satellites from Sriharikota

On February 28, 2021, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched 1 primary satellite ‘Amazonia-1’ & 18 co-passenger satellites from India (5) & USA (13) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The satellites were launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C51 (PSLV-DL Variant).

• PSLV C-51/Amazonia-1 mission is the 1st Dedicated PSLV Commercial Mission for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), which is the ISRO’s commercial arm (setup in 2019).
• This is ISRO’s 1st Launch of 2021. It has launched 14 Missions in 2021.

Stats

• With this India has totally launched 342 Foreign satellites from 34 countries.
• It is the 53rd Flight of PSLV & the 3rd Flight of PSLV-DL Variant
• It is also the 78th Launch Vehicle Mission from SDSC SHAR.

Amazonia-1

• It is an Optical Earth Observation Satellite of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil. It is the 1st satellite to be completely designed, integrated, tested & operated by INPE.
• NSIL undertook the mission under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc., USA.
• It will provide remote sensing data to users for monitoring Deforestation in the Amazon region & analysis of diversified agriculture across Brazil.
• The data will be utilized for monitoring coastal regions, water reservoirs, natural and cultivated forests & prediction of possible environmental disasters.
• It has a Mission life of 4 years and weighs 637 kg.

Indian Satellites

Satish Dhawan SAT – (SDSAT)

• It is a nano-satellite built by Space Kidz India (SKI).
• The main objective of the Satellite is to study radiation levels; space weather & demonstrate long range communication technologies.
• The satellite has an engraving of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name on top of the panel to show its gratitude towards ‘Atma Nirbhar’ initiative & carried an e-copy of Bhagavad Gita.

UNITYsat

• It is a combination of three satellites (JITsat, GHRCESat & Sri Shakthi Sat) with an intention of providing radio relay services.
• It has been designed and built as a joint development by the Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu (JITsat); G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, Maharashtra (GHRCESat); Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (Sri Shakthi Sat).

Sindhu Netra – Commercial Co-passenger

• It is a satellite developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The main purpose of the satellite will be to monitor the activities of military & merchant navy ships in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• In 2019, India & France signed an agreement for building a constellation of 10 low-earth orbit satellites for maritime surveillance for identifying & tracking ships in the Indian Ocean.

USA Satellites

• A Total of 13 Satellites from the USA were launched in the mission.
• The ‘SAI-1 NanoConnect-2’ satellite was launched with ab objective of Technology Demonstration
• 12 Satellites called ‘SpaceBEEs’was launched with an objective of 2-way Satellite communications & data relay.

‘Anand’ developed by Pixxel delayed

• The Satellite ‘Anand’ built by Indian Space Startup, Pixxel was not launched due to a software glitch.
• If ‘Anand’ had been launched, it would have been the 1st Indian Private Company to launch its satellite using ISRO’s facility.

Next Mission

ISRO’s Next Mission would be the launch of Geo-Imaging Satellite ‘GISAT-1’ on GSLV-F10 Rocket.

Gist

About Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Chairman– Dr.K. Sivan (Secretary of Department of Space(DoS))
Headquarters– Bengaluru, Karnataka