laurabeatrizThe National Space Research Institute (Inpe) has announced the purchase of components for equipping Amazonia-1, the first remote sensing satellite developed exclusively by Brazil, with launch planned for 2010. Contracts have been signed for the purchase of an optical camera (called AWFI), manufactured by a Brazilian company, and the control system and on-board computers, produced in Argentina. Inpe is planning to conclude buying the rest of the equipment in 2009. An agreement signed between Brazil and the United Kingdom will allow the English Ralcam-3 camera to be included on the Amazonia-1; the camera has a resolution of ten meters, which will complement the images collected by the AWFI, the resolution of which is 40 meters. The Amazonia-1, which is associated with the satellites of the Cbers (China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) series, will produce images more frequently and with better definition for monitoring the environment and managing natural resources. Amazonia-1 is based on a Brazilian platform called PMM, which will also be used in other satellites proposed for the Brazilian Space Program: the scientific Lattes-1, the meteorological GPM-Br and the Mapsar Earth observation radar satellite.
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