Japan's H-2A To Launch UAE Earth Observation Sat

摘要

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on March 9 booked its third export order for the H-2A rocket in a contract to launch the 350-kilogram Khalifa Sat Earth observation satellite for the United Arab Emirates' government-owned Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST). The launch is to occur in late 2017 or early 2018. Khalifa Sat, which will be the first spacecraft built with UAE personnel in charge from start to finish, will ride into a polar low Earth orbit as a secondary payload on the H-2A. The main passenger will be Japan's GOSAT-2 satellite studying greenhouse gas levels.