Brazilian satellite launch marks beginning of stronger ties

Sriharikota, Feb 28: The successful launch of Brazil's home grown earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 by ISRO from this spaceport on Sunday is the beginning of a stronger relationship between the country and India, a top Minister from the South American nation said here on Sunday.

Speaking after the launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) onboard its PSLV-C51 rocket, Brazilian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Marcos Pontes said the mission was very important for his country.

Amazonia-1, the first Brazilian satellite launched from India, is an optical earth observation satellite intended to provide remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

"First of all it is one more satellite to monitor the country, the Amazon (forests). It represents a new era of Brazilian industry for satellite development in Brazil", he said addres

sing scientists at the Mission Control Centre in the presence of ISRO Chairman K Sivan. "It is a very happy day. We have been working on the satellite for many years. And all this represents a very important moment. All this efforts made by so many people in our National Institute for Space Research and our Brazilian Space Agency," he said.

Pontes, also a former astronaut, said" "It could not be a better place than to be here in India. This is one important step in this partnership that is going to grow up very much."

Appreciating ISRO for the successful launch, he said, India and Brazil would work together a lot. "...seeing the two flags (of Brazil and India on the podium), exactly represents what we are doing today. Beginning of a stronger relationship. I am talking here on behalf of the Brazilian government. We are going to work together and we are going to win together..", he added.

NewSpace India Ltd Chairman G Narayanan said while it had its presence in three missions of PSLV through customer observation payloads earlier, today's was the first dedicated project of NSIL and that of a first fully Brazilian built earth observation satellite.

"We thank the National Institute of Space Research, Brazil, for the faith imposed in ISRO and NSIL... we sincerely acknowledge the specific interactions we had with the National Institute of Space Research", he said.