Video: UAE's KhalifaSat successfully launches into space
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Video: UAE’s KhalifaSat successfully launches into space
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Video: UAE’s KhalifaSat successfully launches into space

The satellite is the first to be designed, tested, built and managed by Emirati engineers

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October 29, 2018

The first satellite made completely by Emirati engineers in the UAE, KhalifaSat, has successfully been launched into space.

It was launched shortly after 8am on Monday on board the H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan.

A team from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre was at the launch site, while others watched the event live in Dubai.

KhalifaSat, an earth observation satellite, will join the UAE’s two imaging satellites already in orbit – DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2.

The satellite was designed, tested, built and managed by Emirati engineers at the MBRSC’s Advanced Technology Laboratories, making it the first satellite to be developed in the facility.

It will be used to provide images of earth for practical applications in disaster relief management, urban planning and environmental protection, among other uses.

To mark the occasion, a special screening was also played on the facade of the Burj Khalifa on Sunday evening.

The development of KhalifaSat began after UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid launched the KhalifaSat project in December 2013.

In February, it was transported from Dubai to South Korea’s Incheon International Airport in anticipation of its launch.

The UAE Space Agency is planning to launch two satellites this year, the Dubai Media Office reported earlier this year.

A further two launches were planned over the next three years bringing the organisation’s total satellites to 12 by 2020.

The UAE has revealed a series of space projects as it prepares to send a probe to Mars by 2020.

In 2017, the country launched its first astronaut programme with the goal of sending four Emiratis into space in the next three years.

Two astronauts from the Emirati corps will be trained in Russia. One of them will be joining a crew of Russian commander and an American astronaut in Soyuz MS-12 spaceflight which is planned to launch to International Space Station (ISS) in April 2019.

Read more: UAE astronaut programme: Final 18 chosen

In September last year, the UAE also revealed plans to build a Dhs500m simulation city on Earth to imitate a future project on the red planet it plans to build in 2117.

Read: UAE unveils plans for $136m simulation of Mars city

To mark the event, a video was played on the viant LED skin of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower at 828 meters, on Sunday night.

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