Dubaisat-1: Mission overview and applications

Abstract

DubaiSat-1 is an initiative from Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) to start the first Earth observation satellite program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The satellite was designed and developed by Satrec Initiative — a pioneer satellite manufacturing company in South Korea, with a strong participation from EIAST engineers. DubaiSat-1 is a catalyst project and part of an in-depth technology transfer program to convey advanced satellites technology to the UAE. The satellite was launched on 29th of July 2009 from Baikonur launch site onboard of Dnepr rocket. DubaiSat-1 observes the Earth at a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and generates high resolution optical images at 2.5m panchromatic (Pan) and 5m multispectral (MS) bands. These images provide a variety of users and decision makers in the UAE with valuable tool for a wide range of applications including infrastructure development, urban planning as well as environment monitoring and protection. DubaiSat-1 images can also be used extensively to promote geosciences and remote sensing research in the region and support different scientific disciplines in private and academic sectors. The preliminary design work has already started for the second platform DubaiSat-2 planned to be launched by 2012.