According to claims made by Sherif Sedqy, CEO of the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA), the Egyptian remote sensing satellite MisrSat-2, or EgyptSat2, is prepared for launch in December 2023.
The announcements came during an event hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Egypt on Wednesday with the theme “My Dreams in Space – Connecting Chinese Astronauts and African Teenagers,” to which China’s Ambassador Liao Liqiang was in attendance.
The satellite, developed and tested in Egypt with Chinese aid, will follow Egypt’s vital water resources while also keeping an eye on climate change, desertification, and land degradation. MisrSat-2, according to Sedky, will be essential for enhancing resource management, land use, agricultural productivity, and urban planning in Egypt.
Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al Mashat, commended the strength of the Sino-Egyptian partnership in June during the satellite’s completion ceremony.
Meanwhile, Liqiang pointed out that Egypt became the first African country capable of having a space program as a result of its achievement in building and testing MisrSat-2.
By the year’s end, EgyptSat-2 will be shipped to China for launch.
China’s February 2022 donation of USD 92 million made MisrSat-2 possible. The Satellite Assembly, Integration, and Testing Center (AITC) at EgSA, considered the largest space center in Africa and the Middle East, was where the satellite was put together and tested.
Notably, the African Space Agency (AfSA) was founded in January of this year, strengthening Egypt’s role in African space technology. Sedky announced plans to create a “satellite constellation” to strengthen Egypt’s position as the continent’s top space technology provider.
The 2019 AfSA will take place in Egypt, which hopes to establish itself as the main hub for coordination between African and non-African space partners to undertake space missions across the continent.
