Context: Recently, ISRO has announced that India would launch EOS-01 and nine international customer spacecraft.
Key Points

• The customer satellites are being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.
• The launch would be made onboard Polar rocket PSLV-C49 from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
• This will be the 51st mission of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
• This is the first launch by ISRO since the COVID-19 lockdown.

About EOS-01

• It is an earth observation satellite and is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
• Earth observation satellites are the satellites equipped with remote sensing technology. Earth observation is the gathering of information about Earth's physical, chemical and biological systems.
• Many earth observation satellites have been employed on sun-synchronous orbit.
• Other earth observation satellites launched by ISRO include RESOURCESAT- 2, 2A, CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, INSAT-3DR, 3D, etc.

Nine Customer Satellites: These are being launched as part of a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.
NSIL, incorporated in 2019 (under the Companies Act, 2013), is a wholly owned Government of India company, under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS).

• NSIL is the commercial arm of ISRO with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the Indian space programme.

The major business areas of the NSIL include

• Production of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) through industry.
• Production and marketing of space-based services, including launch services and space-based applications like transponder leasing, remote sensing and mission support services.
• Building of Satellites (both Communication and Earth Observation) as per user requirements.
• Transfer of technology developed by ISRO centres/ units and constituent institutions of Dept. of Space.
• Marketing spin off technologies and products/ services emanating out of ISRO activities.