Countdown starts for first commercial mission of ISRO arm NewSpace

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

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

The launch is tentatively scheduled at 10:24 hours on February 28, subject to weather conditions. The countdown began at 08:54 hours on Saturday.

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), ISRO's commercial arm.

NSIL is undertaking this mission under a commercial arrangement with US-based satellite rideshare and mission management provider Spaceflight Inc.

Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of 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 Brazilian territory," the statement said.

The 18 co-passenger satellites are four from 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.