Spaceflight Awarded Contract to Launch Brazil’s Amazonia-1 Spacecraft

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Spaceflight, the leading launch and mission management rideshare services provider, today announced it was awarded the contract to provide launch services for INPE, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (in Portuguese: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais), the research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications. The contract award is the culmination of a multi-year, highly competitive government procurement process among global launch providers. Throughout the process, Spaceflight was supported in Brazil by a local representative of the Akaer Group.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005762/en/

The launch service contract for Amazonia-1 was signed in an official signing ceremony between Mr. Ricardo Galvão, director of INPE, and Melissa Wuerl, VP of business development of Spaceflight, and attended by Mr. José Raimundo Braga Coelho, president of the Brazilian Space Agency, and other INPE officials. (Photo: Business Wire)

Melissa Wuerl, vice president of business development at Spaceflight, received the award from INPE Director Ricardo Galvão in a ceremony, with the presence of the Brazilian Space Agency President, José Raimundo Braga Coelho, in São José dos Campos, São Paulo Brazil, today, Tue., Dec. 18.

INPE’s Amazonia-1 satellite is the first Earth observation satellite to be completely designed, integrated, tested and operated by Brazil. Its goal is to autonomously observe the national territory of Brazil, in particular the Amazon region. Amazonia-1 is also the first satellite based on Brazilian Multi Mission Platform (MMP), a general purpose service bus for 500 kg class satellites.

Representing the largest spacecraft Spaceflight has launched to date, Amazonia-1 weighs approximately 700 kilograms and is 1.7 meters in diameter and 2.6 meters tall. It will be the primary spacecraft on the PSLV mission, with the excess capacity filled by Spaceflight’s smallsat rideshare customers. Targeting mid-2020, Amazonia-1 will be deployed to a mean altitude 760 kilometers sun-synchronous orbit, while the additional secondary rideshare spacecraft will be deployed at a lower altitude.

Spaceflight will provide a combination of launch and end-to-end mission management services, as well as hardware for INPE. “We excel at complex launch missions like this, and it’s an honor to be selected to take INPE’s first Amazonia satellite to space,” said Wuerl. “Our goal continues to be to provide the most rideshare options for customers to get their spacecraft into orbit—which ultimately benefits everyone on board.”

The awarding of the Amazonia-1 launch comes on the heels of Spaceflight’s historic dedicated rideshare launch of 64 smallsats on its SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 earlier this month. With the success of SSO-A, Spaceflight has now launched more than 210 satellites since its founding in 2011. In addition, the company is contracted to launch nearly 100 satellites in 2019 from a variety of launch vehicles including Falcon 9, PSLV, Antares, Electron and Vega.

Ricardo Galvão from INPE added, “This contract represents a tremendous milestone for INPE and we’re very pleased to be working with the team at Spaceflight on our very first fully Brazilian mission.”

About Spaceflight

Spaceflight is revolutionizing the business of spaceflight by delivering a new model for accessing space. A comprehensive launch services and mission management provider, the company provides a straightforward and cost-effective suite of products and services including state-of-the-art satellite infrastructure and rideshare launch offerings that enable commercial and government entities to achieve their mission goals on time and on budget. A service offering of Spaceflight Industries in Seattle, Spaceflight provides its services through a global network of partners, ground stations and launch vehicle providers. For more information, visit http://www.spaceflight.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005762/en/