NigeriaSat-2 set for launch
Seidu Mohammed, the Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, has announced that the NigeriaSat-2 satellite will be launched officially on 29 October.
Mr. Mohammed disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the official opening of a one-day workshop on the application of high resolution Satellite Imageries and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imageries organised by NASRDA, in collaboration with INFOTERRA of Germany.
The new satellite, according to him, is an improvement on NigeriaSat-1 launched in September, 2003, and it has a 2.5m resolution panchromatic (very high) resolution, 5m multispectral high resolution, and 32m multispectral (medium) resolution.
The NASRDA boss explained that the launch of the new satellite will further enhance the capability of NASRDA in the delivery of qualitative space technology applications in Nigeria for sustainable development.
According to him, NASRDA has been able to deliver in various areas in the provision of food security, telecommunications, information, among others, as well as in the provision of relevant data, services, consultancy, and training to various institutions both at the federal, state, and local levels including government research institutions and parastatals, in a bid to promote national development.
Increase capacity
Mr. Mohammed added that the successful launch of NigeriaSat-2 will increase the nation’s capability for acquisition and utilisation of high resolution imageries; and it will also place Nigeria in a strategic position, in its quest towards technological development in Africa. This, he said, will not only give the nation an edge over other African countries; it also means that Nigeria has moved a notch higher in realising a major technological, economic, and social development infrastructure.
The Director General opined that the Synthetic Aperture Radar workshop is not only timely, but also preparatory to the utilisation of NigeriaSat-2 imageries in space technology applications.
He therefore, urged the participants to seize this opportunity to gain relevant knowledge and also train others, emphasising that the workshop is a train-the-trainer initiative, which will be of immense benefits to the participants, most especially when they begin to utilise imageries from NigeriaSat-2.
Marco Weber, the Director of INFOTERRA, in his remarks, said Nigeria will join five other countries in the application of SAR sensor; and that INFOTERRA will give the Agency the relevant support in this area.
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