RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Amazonia-1 satellite, the first Earth observation satellite designed, built, tested and operated in Brazil, will be launched on February 28th, at 1:54 AM (Brasília time).
The Amazonia-1 will be launched on the PSLV-C51 mission of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), at 10:24 AM (Indian time).
The satellite is part of the so-called Amazon Mission, which aims to provide remote sensing data to observe and monitor deforestation, particularly in the Amazon region. The mission will also monitor agriculture across the country with a high rate of revisits, aiming to work together with existing environmental programs.
This will be the third Brazilian remote sensing satellite in operation along with the CBERS-4 and CBERS-4A. The latter two were developed by Brazil in partnership with China. The Amazon-1 is composed of six kilometers of cords and 14,000 electrical connections. It is a sun-synchronous orbit (polar) satellite that will produce images of the planet every five days. It is capable of observing a range of approximately 850 km, with 64 meters resolution.
The Amazonia-1 has a useful life of four years. The mission also involves the launching of two other satellites, Amazonia-1B and Amazonia-2.
“The Amazonia Mission will solidify Brazil’s expertise in the full development of a space mission using satellites stabilized on three axes, given that the preceding remote sensing satellites were developed in cooperation with other countries,” said the National Space Research Institute (INPE) in a statement.
“The Brazilian space industry will have gained flight experience in the equipment manufactured for the satellite, which opens up prospects for supply to other countries and space agencies,” the institute added.
Source: Agencia Brazil