Spaceflight readies its largest satellite contracted to date, Amazonia-1, for Launch

Written by Copernical Team Thursday, 18 February 2021 11:44

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

Write a comment

Seattle WA (SPX) Feb 18, 2021

Spaceflight Inc has provided details about the upcoming launch of its largest customer satellite launch to date, the Amazonia-1 spacecraft. To accommodate the nearly 700-kilogram satellite, Spaceflight purchased an entire NewSpace India Limited's (NSIL) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The mission, named PSLV-C51/ Amazonia-1, is targeted for launch at the end of February from Satish Dhawan

The spacecraft was produced by INPE, the National Institute for Space Research (in Portuguese: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais), Brazil's leading entity dedicated to space research and exploration and is the first Earth observation satellite to be completely designed, integrated, tested and operated in Brazil. Amazonia-1 will launch under a commercial arrangement with NSIL, an Indian government company under Department of Space (DOS) and the commercial arm of ISRO.

A Sun Synchronous orbiting satellite, Amazonia-1 will carry an optical camera that can autonomously generate images of any part of the world every five days, providing value in developing applications such as deforestation alerts in the Amazon. It will be the debut satellite based on Brazilian Multi Mission Platform (MMP), a general-purpose service bus for 500-kilogram class satellites.

"This mission is an important milestone for Brazil, INPE and Spaceflight and it has been an honor for our team to ready the inaugural Amazonia payload for launch," said Marcy Mabry Rugland, senior mission manager at Spaceflight.

"Launching a satellite of this size posed unique complexities that our team expertly orchestrated, leaning on their expertise and years of experience managing missions on the PSLV. At Spaceflight, we are committed to opening up space access for any satellite company, regardless of size, preferred orbit or budget, and to find a way to successfully launch a spacecraft while meeting specific mission needs."

Spaceflight was awarded a multi-year contract to provide launch services for INPE through a highly competitive government procurement process among global launch providers in December 2018.

The Brazilian-built spacecraft is 1.7 meters in diameter and 2.6 meters tall and will be deployed to a mean altitude 752 kilometers Sun Synchronous orbit, while the additional secondary rideshare spacecraft will be deployed at a lower altitude.

"The launch of our debut satellite for INPE is a significant achievement and we are grateful for Spaceflight's dedication and support throughout our mission," said Adenilson Silva, Amazonia mission responsible.

"The deployment of Amazonia-1 will allow us to capture images and monitor the environment and agriculture throughout the Brazilian territory which will help us better understand the expansive terrestrial environment in the region. In addition to the technological achievements of the mission, it also represents the last step of MMP development. Spaceflight's end-to-end launch services gives us confidence that our mission needs are managed and enables our team to fully focus on the satellite we're preparing to launch."

In addition to PSLV, Spaceflight works with a portfolio of global launch vehicles, including Falcon 9, Antares, Electron and Vega, to provide a variety of launch options to its customers. Most recently, Spaceflight successfully launched and deployed spacecraft on the company's next-generation orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), Sherpa-FX1, aboard the SpaceX Transporter-1 mission last month.

This year, Spaceflight plans to launch multiple Sherpa vehicles in addition to many other rideshare missions, totaling more than 10 missions across its global launch vehicle portfolio.

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Space Flight Laboratory to build the NorSat Technology Demonstrator microsat
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Feb 17, 2021
The Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) has awarded Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of Canada a contract to develop the NorSat Technology Demonstrator (TD) microsatellite. With a primary mission of testing out new technologies in space, NorSat-TD will validate payloads and concepts from Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Italy. SFL, which developed the operational NorSat-1 and -2 microsatellites launched in 2017, as well as NorSat-3 expected to launch in Q2 2021, has been contracted to design and build ... read more