UAE braces for KhalifaSat liftoff
dubai — It’s going to be sleepless nights and lots of hard work for engineers at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) for the next five days as they prepare to launch their first in-house developed satellite into space on October 29.
KhalifaSat has already been placed onto the launcher and is waiting for lift-off from Japan’s island of Tanegashima. The satellite, which is the first one fully developed by a team of Emirati engineers, will be launched at exactly 8.08am (UAE time) and will capture high-quality images once it goes live in orbit.
A team of 10 engineers from the MBRSC are on the ground in Japan, where they are monitoring the progress of the satellite’s launch.
The director of the space systems development department and the project manager of KhalifaSat at the MBRSC, Amer Al Sayegh, told Khaleej Times that the launch is on schedule, as all the tests and checks have shown “positive results”.
“We’ve crossed most of the critical steps towards the launch, which means we have shipped the satellite successfully and we’ve done our preintegration testing,” Al Sayegh said.
“We integrated the satellites with the launch vehicle itself. So, KhalifaSat was put on the launcher, clamped with a ring, and that is our integration mechanism with the launcher — it holds the satellite with the launcher. We also tested and integrated the spacecraft electrically with the launch vehicle, so that during the launch, the launcher will unclamp first and push the satellite away from itself.”
These few days leading up to the launch, the UAE engineers in Japan are making daily inspections of KhalifaSat to ensure it remains ready for its 23-minute-long flight into Earth’s orbit.
However, it’s the 12 hours prior to the launch and the launch day itself that will prove to be the “most challenging, yet exciting” for the engineers, according to Al Sayegh, as they cannot leave the site of the launch. “Around 12 hours before the launch event, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the MBRSC will make the final decision to go ahead with the launch and that is after re-
Tryst with space October 29 will be a watershed for the UAE. The launch of KhalifaSat signals the coming of age of the space industry in the UAE as it establishes the nation as one of the world’s leading manufacturers and developers of satellites. A remarkable feat for a fledgling nation whose dreams for a relationship with space will become a reality on its 50th anniversary when the spacecraft Hope arrives to orbit Mars.
viewing all the reports from the previous days, the weather reports, and the readiness of the launch itself,” he said.
“Everything will be done and fuelling will start. The launcher will start fuelling its own engines and, at the same time, our team will be staying in the bunker very close to the launcher to monitor everything. At this time, the team will not be able to leave the bunker because it’s too risky for them before the launch.”
Some of the engineers will be inside the control room with the Japanese team during the take-off. Meanwhile, another team will be active at MBRSC’s control room in Dubai to monitor the progress of the flight. The flight will also be streamed live on MBRSC’s YouTube channel.