Right at 10.24 hours this morning from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre’s first launchpad, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C51 launched 19 satellites which included Brazil’s 637-kg optical earth observation satellite Amazonia-1. After a flight of about 17 minutes 23 seconds, PSLV-C51 injected the Amazonia-1 into its orbit, and in the succeeding 1 hour 38 minutes, all the 18 co-passenger satellites were successfully separated from the vehicle in a planned sequence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO and NSIL (NewSpace India Limited), a commercial arm of ISRO, on the success of the first dedicated commercial launch of PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 Mission.
What is Amazonia-1 satellite?
Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). This satellite will provide remote sensing data for monitoring the deforestation in the Amazon region, strengthening the existing structure for the analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.
PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Government of India company under Department of Space.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro on the successful launch of Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite by PSLV-C51.
18 co-passenger satellites also launched
The 18 co-passenger satellites onboard PSLV-C51 included four from IN-SPACe and fourteen from NSIL.
Among IN-SPACe satellites, three were UNITYsats designed and built as a joint development by Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumbudur (JITsat), G.H.Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri Shakti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (Sri Shakthi Sat).
The fourth satellite was Satish Dhawan Sat (SDSAT) from Space Kidz India. Among NSIL satellites one commercial satellite was from India and thirteen were from the USA.
PSLV-C51 is the 53rd flight of PSLV and the 3rd flight of PSLV in ‘DL’ configuration (with 2 strap-on motors). This was the 78th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. With today’s launch, PSLV has placed a total of 342 satellites customer satellites from 34 countries in orbit.
E-Gita and PM Modi’s picture sent to space
As per media reports, Space Kidz India’s spacecraft Satish Dhawan Sat (SD SAT) had PM Modi’s picture engraved on the top panel to show solidarity and gratitude for his Aatmanirbhar initiative. The satellite also carried Bhagavad Gita stored in an SD card.
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