ABU DHABI // The UAE is now expected to launch its first Earth-observing satellite in May, after a delay of several months. "There is a 90 per cent chance of a launch in May," said Ahmed al Mansoori, the director general of the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST). "We are delighted. This is very good news."
DubaiSat-1 will be the first non-communications satellite the country has put into orbit. It was originally due to be launched in the fourth quarter of last year but was delayed by a series of logistical and administrative problems. The multi-million-dirham craft, which will be used by weather forecasters and map-makers, will ride into space on a Soviet-era SS19 intercontinental ballistic missile expected to be launched from a silo in Kazakhstan, near Baikonur Cosmodrome, where Yuri Gagarin lifted off to become the first man in space in 1961.
"It will be a cluster launch," said Mr al Mansoori. "There will be other satellites travelling on the same rocket - satellites from Britain, Spain and the US." He added that delays of a few months were normal for launches of this kind. "Everything is ready on our side, but the company which is arranging the launch still has to finalise some agreements with some of the countries bordering Kazakhstan in case any pieces of the rocket land within their territory."
Salem al Marri, the manager of the EIAST's satellite programme, said he was flying to Moscow next week to discuss final details. He hoped to be able to confirm a launch date before the end of the month. "The satellite is ready. The rocket is ready. We just need to finalise a launch window." The 200kg satellite took two years to build and was completed in July. The cost of the project has been estimated at Dh29 million (US$7.9m).
The SS19 missile was designed and built in the 1970s and has been modified to carry satellites instead of a warhead. The EIAST was established by a Dubai Government decree in 2006 and a team of 16 Emirati engineers travelled to Daejeon in South Korea to oversee the construction of the satellite. From its orbit about 700km above the ground it will take thousands of photographs of the UAE, which scientists will be able to view moments later.
Emirati institutions have in the past relied on private companies for pictures of the country from space. However, those images are often weeks old, as Dubai is photographed only once a month and the rest of the country even more rarely. Apart from mapping and meteorology, the satellite will have many applications, including planning infrastructure and making transportation decisions. It could also be helpful in a disaster, in the same way that private companies supplied Asian governments with up to date images after the tsunami in December 2004.
The images will be available to all government bodies as well as academic institutions. Mr al Marri said it had not yet been decided whether they would be made available to private companies. Work has started on designing another satellite, DubaiSat-2, expected to be launched in 2012. In 2010, Yahsat, a Mubadala subsidiary, will launch the communications satellite YahSat 1A. chamilton@thenational.ae