Just in time for the new Star Wars flick! Our foray into hyperspace was rightfully blessed by the Force — six made-in-Singapore satellites were successfully launched into orbit yesterday night.
The satellites blasted off into the cosmos from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle at 8.30pm yesterday. Channel NewsAsia reports that they’ll be orbiting around the equator, gathering data that promises to benefit those in the equatorial region. Images of Singapore can be captured once every 100 minutes.
Weighing in at 400kg, the primary satellite TeLEOS-1 was produced by ST Electronics (Satellite Systems) in a joint venture with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). NTU also produced two of the other satellites; one for climate-monitoring and another for navigational purposes.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) also made two satellites of their own, while the sixth one was made by space technology firm Microspace Rapid in their Singapore laboratory.
“The joint launch of six Singapore satellites into space is also a great celebration of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, marking the significant progress of Singapore’s nascent space industry,” said Professor Chua Kee Chaing, Dean of NUS Faculty of Engineering.
