Dubai’s DMSat-1 has lifted off onboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:07 am (UAE time) on Monday.
In a video posted by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre on Twitter, Launch Manager Abdulla AlShehhi explained that the launch phase was very delicate and instrument tests continued until five minutes beforehand.
The region’s first nanometric environmental satellite is the result of a collaboration between the Space Centre and Dubai Municipality.
It will monitor, collect and analyse environmental data as well as measure air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
A total of 38 satellites from 18 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy and Brazil, have been launched on the Soyuz rocket.
They include Challenge-1 - the first satellite made completely in Tunisia by the Telnet telecommunications group.
The first few minutes of the launch of DMSat-1 onboard the Soyuz-2.1a from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.#DMSat1#UAE4BetterEnvironment pic.twitter.com/s1wvxYjGO3
— بلدية دبي | Dubai Municipality (@DMunicipality) March 22, 2021
The moment when DMSat-1, the first nanometric environmental satellite of @DMunicipality in collaboration with @MBRSpaceCentre, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. pic.twitter.com/eh3UpJHt5c
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) March 22, 2021