ISRO to launch PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 mission on Feb 28 from Sriharikota; countdown begins

The countdown for the launch of the PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 mission commenced on Saturday from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

PSLV-C51 rocket, which is the 53rd mission of PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), will launch Amazonia-1 of Brazil as primary satellite and 18 co-passenger satellites from Sriharikota, about 100 kms from Chennai, Bengaluru- headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a <>statement.

First dedicated commercial mission of NSIL

According to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's engraved picture on a co-passenger satellite and sending Bhagavad Gita on-board in electronic format are some of the notable aspects in the launch.

The launch is tentatively scheduled at 1024 hours on February 28, subject to weather conditions. The countdown began at 0854 hours. "PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)," ISRO's commercial arm, the statement said. NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercial arrangement with Seattle, US-based satellite rideshare and mission management provider, Spaceflight Inc.

Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). "This satellite would further strengthen the existing structure by providing remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory", the statement said.

The 18 co-passenger satellites include four from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (three UNITYsats from consortium of three Indian academic institutes and one Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India) and 14 from NSIL.

ISRO lining up launch of India's geo imaging satellite

Meanwhile, ISRO is lining up the launch of its geo imaging satellite GISAT-1 close on the heels of the February 28 PSLV- C51 mission. The launch of GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10 rocket was originally planned for March five last year, but was postponed a day before the blast-off due to technical reasons.

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Secretary in the Department of Space and ISRO Chairman K Sivan told PTI that the technical issues have been resolved and the delay in the launch was due to COVID-19-induced lockdown which affected normal work.

Sources in the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said ISRO is now looking at March-end-early-April timeframe for the mission from Sriharikota spaceport, about 100 km from Chennai. According to ISRO, GISAT-1 will facilitate near real-time observation of the Indian sub-continent, under cloud-free condition, at frequent intervals.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F10) will launch GISAT-1 from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. Weighing about 2268kg, GISAT-1 is the first state-of-the-art agile earth observation satellite that will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10, according to ISRO officials.

"Subsequently, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system", ISRO had said a few days before the planned launch in March last year.

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(With PTI inputs)