11/01/2018

Successful launch of KhalifaSat, first satellite built in UAE, equipped with Optolink’s fiber-optic gyroscopes SRS1000

KhalifaSat, the remote sensing Earth observation satellite manufactured in the United Arab Emirates, was launched into orbit on 29 October 2018 from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.  KhalifaSat is the first satellite built in Dubai government’s space science and research facility and the first developed entirely by a team of Emirati engineers. KhalifaSat is equipped with Optolink’s fiber-optic gyroscopes SRS1000, manufactured using Optolink’s radiation-stable polarization maintaining (PM, PANDA-type) fiber, to control satellite attitude and an electro-optical payload. Operating at Sun-synchronous orbit with nominal altitude 613 km,  the spacecraft with a mass of 330 kg features a fully redundant design with a design life of 5 years, a power generation of 450 W  and a size of just under two metres in height and less than 1.5 metres in diameter. KhalifaSat offers high resolution satellite imagery 0.7m Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) for panchromatic imagery and 2.98m GSD in four multi-spectral bands and with Attitude Accuracy <0.01°, and provides high-resolution imagery of Earth to be used for various purposes, including urban planning, change monitoring, area classification, monitoring environmental change and aiding relief efforts for natural disasters. The satellite imagery from KhalifaSat will be provided to local government entities and a number of commercial entities both locally and internationally. UAE reveals first image taken by KhalifaSat of Dubai icon