Amazonia 1 Launch
Brazil’s space program has an interesting history. Unlike India, it started as a part of the military space program. A civilian space agency in 1994 to avoid sanctions by the United States. The country has collaborated with US, Russia and Ukraine for it’s sounding rockets and China for its Earth observation satellites. It had plans for building it’s own launch vehicle program. A Wikileaks telegram in 2011 alleged that the US foiled Brazil’s launch vehicle program.
China has launched 5 satellites for Brazil under China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite program (CBERS). CBERS 1, 2, 2B, 3, 4 and 4A were launched on board Chinese launch vehicles with the CBERS-4 launched in 2014. CBERS 2B and 3 have been called mission failures. CBERS 4 was launched more than four years after CBERS-3 as a replacement satellite. CBERS-4A was launched in 2019. The CBERS 4 and 4A are the only operational satellite in the fleet.
India’s engagement with Brazil started in 2007 when India shared it’s Resourcesat-1 images with Brazil. This was followed up with sharing of images from Resourcesat-2 from 2014 onwards. India, then helped Brazil setup an Earth Station (that helps in communication with satellites in orbit).
ISRO already uses the Earth Station to collect data from it’s satellites. It also trains Brazilian scientists on how to get and process data from satellites.
Amazonia 1 is a satellite being built by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The satellite has been under development in 2001. It was briefly shelved for a decade. Work began again with a vibration test in 2011. India signed an agreement in 2014 to offer launch services for Brazilian satellites along with training scientists for the Earth station mentioned above.
India is launching Amazonia 1 as part of that agreement. It was slated for launch in 2020 but COVID-19 meant that the launch was pushed to 2021. The satellite is built for remote sensing observation centered around deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. The satellite is slated for launch on February 28, 2021.
Further reading…
India-Brazil Space Cooperation: South American nation to track ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan missions, Huma Siddiqui, Financial Express
CBERS Program - Wikipedia
Brazilian Space Prorgam - Wikipedia
Reddit thread on INPE’s updates for the mission which are better than ISRO’s. Specifically their copyright message.
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Jatan Mehta writes about India’s upcoming science missions.
The Financial Express argues against the liquidation of Devas Multimedia. NCLAT has already appointed a liquidator for the company.