24 August 2011

Nigeria Launches two satellites in orbit for high resolution imagery

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African Diplomacy

Abuja, Aug 17 (PTI) Determined to firm up its drive towards technological advancement, especially in relation to Information Communications Technology (ICT), Nigeria today launched two observation satellites into the orbit to be used for disaster management, with President Goodluck Jonathan describing the move as another milestone in his country's effort to solve national problems through space technology. The construction and launch of the satellites cost Nigeria N17.42 billion.

Both satellites were built at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford, UK, under contract with the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA). NigeriaSat-X was constructed through an SSTL training and development programme at SSTL in Guildford. In total, 26 Nigerian engineers participated in the project, working on the satellite for 18 months throughout the design and test phases. The NigeriaSat-X offers 22 m multi-spectral GSD across a 600 km swath width.
Dr. S. O. Mohammed, the head of NASRDA, commented: "NigeriaSat-2 will significantly boost African capabilities for remote sensing applications, specifically for natural resource management."

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