Mubasher: The UAE announced the launch of satellite 813, following the country’s initiative to form the first Arab Space Coordination Group along with 11 Arab nations to develop, 813, the UAE Space Agency announced today, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).
“The multi-spectral satellite will monitor the Earth and measure the environmental and climatic elements in a number of Arab countries, as well as vegetation, soil types, minerals, and water sources, measuring greenhouse gases, pollution and dust levels as well,” WAM said.
The eleven countries are the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, and Egypt; the UAE will lead the new organisation.
A number of Arab engineers from the eleven countries will design and manufacture the new satellite 813, WAM added.
“The new satellite will be funded by the UAE Space Agency and will be developed by Arab engineers at the state-of-the-art facilities at the National Space Science and Technology Center at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, the only research space centre of its kind in the Middle East,” according to WAM.
Satellite 813 will take three full years to be developed, with its lifespan standing at nearly five years.
“The data will be sent to a ground station in the UAE and receiving stations in some Arab countries for the benefit of a number of environmental authorities, municipalities, and institutions concerned with the agricultural sector and urban planning industry,” according to WAM.
