The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has contracted Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries [B]to launch its KhalifaSat spacecraft, the most advanced satellite ever created for the UAE.
The satellite will be launched on…
The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has contracted Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries [B]to launch its KhalifaSat spacecraft, the most advanced satellite ever created for the UAE.
The satellite will be launched on MHI’s H-IIA launch vehicle in 2018. The co-passenger on that mission is Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s GOSAT-2, a MELCO-built satellite that will monitor greenhouse gases on Earth.
KhalifaSat represents a major step forward in EIAST’s plan to manufacture its own satellites. The remote sensing spacecraft, which was initially called DubaiSat-3, is the first to be 100% developed by Emirati engineers.
The project began in 2013 and the first two years of KhalifaSat’s construction are taking place in South Korea at local manufacturer Satrec Initiative’s facilities but under the leadership of a core team of 45 UAE experts. Satrec built EIAST’s previous two earth imaging satellites, DubaiSat-1 and -2.
The satellite will then be transferred to a “clean room” EIAST is creating at its headquarters in Dubai for the final one and a half years of its development.
EIAST was established by the Dubai Government in 2006 to encourage scientific innovation and technological progress in Dubai and in the UAE. It is mainly involved in outer space research and development; satellite manufacturing and systems development; space imaging; and ground station services and support for other satellites.
