Brazilian, Indian startup satellite in ISRO's first mission in 2021 on February 28

In its first space mission in2021, India's space agency ISRO planned to launch Braziliansatellite Amazonia-1 and 20 other payloads, including onebuilt by a home-grown start-up, on February 28.

The launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC)SHAR, Sriharikota, is tentatively scheduled at 10.23 am,subject to weather conditions, Bengaluru-headquartered IndianSpace Research Organisation said on Friday.

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicatedcommercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), aGovernment of India company under Department of Space.

NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercialarrangement with Spaceflight Inc.USA.

Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observationsatellite of National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

This satellite would further strengthen the existingstructure by providing remote sensing data to users formonitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis ofdiversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory, ISROsaid.

The 20 co-passenger satellites include one from ISRO(INS-2TD), 'Anand', 'Satish Dhawan' satellite and 'UNITYsat'.

Amazonia-1 is the primary payload on board ISRO'sPSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket.

'Anand' is built by Indian space startup, Pixxel, and'Satish Dhawan Satellite' by Chennai-based Space Kidz India.

UNITYsat is a combination of three satellitesdesigned and built as a joint development by JeppiaarInstitute of Technology, Sriperumpudur (JITsat), G.H.RaisoniCollege of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri ShakthiInstitute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (SriShakthi Sat).

''PSLV-C51 marks the launch the country's firstcommercial private remote-sensing satellite (Anand) on an ISROPSLV rocket,'' an ISRO official said.

ISRO Chairman K Sivan had earlier described theupcoming mission as ''special for us, special for the entirecountry'' and beginning of ''new era of space (sector) reforms''.

Pixxel CEO, Awais Ahmed had said: ''We are elatedwith the fact that Indias first commercial private satellitewill now launch on an Indian rocket.This is not only a proudmoment for us as an organisation but also as citizens to workwith our nations capabilities.'' Bengaluru-based Pixxel has said it plans to build aconstellation of 30 satellites by 2023.

The company inaugurated it's new facility here lastmonth.

According to Space Kidz India, Satish Dhawansatellite (SD SAT), named after former ISRO Chairman SatishDhawan, aimed to study space radiation and Magnetosphere anddemonstrate the indigenously designed and developednanosatellite components.

''The satellite also tests the capabilities of LoRatechnology in Space which could be helpful for manyapplications in the future in short and M2M communication,'' itsaid.PTI RS BNADMINISTRATOR BNADMINISTRATOR