IMRA Newsletter
First Saudi Commercial Satellites go up today [Includes "remote sensing" Spy Satellite]
2004-06-29
www.spa.gov.sa/html/archive_e.asp?srcfile=656657&NDay=29/06/2004&wcatg=0
Riyadh, June 29, SPA[Saudi Press Agency) -- Saudi Arabia will launch its first commercial-use satellites into space from the Baikanur Launch Pad in Kazhakstan on Tuesday, a project official said.
Three 100 percent locally-built, low-altitude satellites will be launched 650 kilometers into outer space tomorrow, said Abdulaziz Al-Sugair, Team Leader and Project Manager, Space Research Center in King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh.
Of the three satellites, SaudiComsat 1 and 2 are for commercial use in data communication, said Sugair, who arrived from Kazakhstan on Sunday to monitor the after-launch process from KACST. The third satellite, SaudiSat 2, is for experimental purposes such as remote sensing and other scientific research work, he told Saudi Gazette.
The satellites will be in orbit 10 minutes from their launch at 12:30 P.M. Kazhakstan time [8:30 A.M. local time], and Saudi Arabia will have full control of them, Al-Sugair said.
It will take at least two days to less than two weeks to stabilize them in orbit, he added.
With Tuesday's launch Saudi Arabia will have a total of six satellites in space.