DubaiSat-1 mosaic marks a milestone 

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) It represents the sum total of a years work for the scientists involved in the launch of the UAEs first government satellite.

This mosaic image of a section of the UAE coastline was painstakingly compiled from 40 images taken by DubaiSat-1 over the course of the last year. It represents the work we have done over the last year, said Salem Al Marri, project manager for DubaiSat-1. It was pretty hard to make.

Al Marri said a second image of the Abu Dhabi coastline was currently being worked on by a team at the Emirates Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST).

In addition, a gallery of 15 images will be released onto the EIAST website, with locations such as New York, Qatar, and Dubai.

There will also be pictures from a flood as well. We want to show people what we can do, he said.

The project, which has a 100 per cent Emiratisation policy, underscores the capabilities of young Emiratis to actively participate in new and advanced realms of technology, said Ahmed Al Mansoori, director general of EIAST.

DubaiSat-1 was shot into orbit on July 29 last year on an intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a Soviet-era military base in Kazakhstan.

The launch was the culmination of four years of hard work by Emirati engineers working in a skills-transfer arrangement with Korean firm Satrec Initiative.

Al Marri said that although his team was planning a celebration, and a handful of Emirati engineers building DubaiSat-2 in Korea had been given a cake, by and large the excitement had worn off.

We are trying to get as much use from the satellite as possible now, he said.

By Martin Croucher