Nepal’s first nanosatellite ‘NepaliSat-1‘ was launched into space on April 18, 2019 at 2:30 AM NPT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The launch marks Nepal’s entry into the global space age.
The satellite was developed with the support of Japan’s Kyutech University under the Birds project, which is a cross-border interdisciplinary satellite project for non-space faring countries.
The satellite weighs about 1.33kg and is just around 30 percent larger than a Rubik’s cube.
The Birds 3 satellites from Sri Lanka, Japan and Nepal were taken to the International Space Station (ISS) and boarded onto the Antares rocket and launched today.
Nepal’s maiden satellite will capture pictures of various parts of Nepal daily and share information about its forests, glaciers, hills, mountains, roads, and Terai.
This project makes Nepal self-sufficient in terms of information gathering and competent in the international engineering market.
In the latest update on Nepal’s maiden satellite NepaliSat-1, NASA will be live streaming the launch of the country’s first nanosatellite.
The nanosatellite will be launched from a facility in Virginia, USA at NST 2:31 AM on April 18, 2019.
Besides Nepal, Sri Lanka and Japan will be launching their nanosatellites.
Meanwhile, Nepal also officially launched its first media telecommunication satellite project on March 12, 2018.
The high-performance c/Ku Band satellite is likely to be launched by 2022. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has signed an agreement with French aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space for the same.
With the implementation of the project, Nepal will have access to a high-speed internet facility and will make major advancements in special fields such as e-learning, e-governance and agriculture among others.
Source: https://www.nepalisansar.com/technology/nasa-to-live-stream-nepals-first-nanosatellite-space-launch/