The Indian Space Research and Research Organisation (ISRO) gets ready to launch Brazil’s Amazonia -1 satellite next month onboard PSLV. Confirming this to Financial Express Online, a top diplomat said “The launch with PSLV next month is confirmed, however, we have not received a confirmed date yet. It is all dependent on the Indian Space Agency and its schedule.”
This Brazilian Satellite has been locally designed, assembled and tested in Brazil and will be the first satellite for Earth Observation. It will the primary payload and will not be a hitch-hiking satellite.
India-Brazil Space Cooperation
At the 6th BRICS Summit in 2014, the two countries –India and Brazil had an agreement all signed which talked about setting up a Brazilian earth station to receive data from the Indian satellites. For operating the station and gathering data through remote sensing, the Brazilian scientists have been getting training at the ISRO facility.
Space Cooperation between the two countries goes back to the early 2000s when the two had an agreement in place at the Government to Government level, under which the South American nation started receiving data from Resourcesat-1 satellite of India from October 2009 to September 2013. Since October 2014 has been receiving data from Resourcesat-2.
On commercial basis, India gets tracking support from ground stations located Alcantara and Cuiaba, in Brazil. This tracking support is for Indian satellites and other space programmes including Chandrayaan-I, Megha Tropiques, MOM, and ASTROSAT.
What is the purpose of Amazonia-1 which PSLV will launch?
Diplomatic sources have confirmed that “the images from the Brazilian satellite will help in observing and monitoring the deforestation of the Amazon Region. And it now has a much more critical role to play after the recent fires in the Amazon Region. Also, the images will help in the agricultural and vegetation areas.”
Why ISRO for launching satellites?
Several countries have been coming to ISRO for launching their satellite purely because of commercial consideration. A lot of South American countries have been reaching out to ISRO through the Indian Missions looking for a commercially feasible launch. Post-MARS mission in 2014, India’s sophisticated and cost-effective programmes attracted big and small countries from across the globe.
Countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia are among some of the countries who have a Space Cooperation with ISRO at a different level. Several others in the region who want to stay away from China have been reaching out for an understanding with ISRO.
