UAE- Photos: Sheikh Mohammed meets team behind KhalifaSat

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, have received the Emirati engineering team who helped design, build and launch the first made-in-UAE satellite KhalifaSat. The two leaders and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, received the Emirati team at the Za'abeel Palace on Saturday.

Taking to Twitter after meeting the team, Sheikh Mohammed said: "A team we are proud of . an accomplishment that raised our ambitions . A project that we consider the beginning of a great journey to reach planet Mars and beyond.".

KhalifaSat is the UAE's first100 per cent Emirati-made satellite which was liftedoff into space from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre.The launch of the Earth observation satellite took place on October 29, at 8.08am UAE-time onboard the H2-A rocket, which was also carrying Japan's environment satellite, GoSat-2, along with KhalifaSat.

Also read: UAE successfully launches satellite KhalifaSat

A team of 70 Emirati engineers from MBRSC built KhalifaSat, which will be the third satellite the centre has launched into space. DubaiSat1 was launched in 2009 and DubaiSat2 in 2013. Commercial and communication satellites by the UAE - YahSat-1,2 and Thuraya 1,2,3 - have also been launched before.

KhalifaSat is the most advanced Earth observation satellite a team of Emirati engineers have ever developed. It has the abilityto take high-quality images, which will be provided to the UAE government for free by the MBRSC and at a cost to international entities.

Staff Reporter

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