The satellite bears the initials of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
A new satellite will be built in the UAE and it will be called MBZ-Sat, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced on Wednesday.
The satellite bears the initials of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Taking to Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed said this satellite technology will be the latest in the region and the team behind the project will be 100 per cent Emirati.
The UAE Vice-President said this satellite will be used for civilian and commercial purposes.
“Its name will be MBZ-sat. The previous satellite was named Khalifa Sat, and this one will be named after my brother Mohammed bin Zayed, may Allah protect him,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
KhalifaSat was the first satellite that had been 100 per cent designed and manufactured in the UAE. One of the world’s most advanced remote sensing observation satellites, it was launched into low Earth orbit in October 2018, beginning a five-year mission to capture and transmit high-quality, detailed images of Earth back to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai.
The UAE launched its National Space Programme as part of the country’s ambitious space programme of reaching Mars by 2021 and building the first settlement there by 2117.
Its Mars probe, Hope, has now travelled over 200 million kilometres since it was launched in July this year. Cruising through space, the orbited is nearing the halfway mark in its journey towards the Red Planet.
The country sent its first astronaut to space on September 25, 2019. Emirati astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori went on the eight-day mission on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-15 to the International Space Station.
Source: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/government/mbz-sat-sheikh-mohammed-announces-new-uae-satellite