MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

Kuala Lumpur, Fri. - Malaysia's second micro-satellite, "MACSAT", to be launched in late 2004, can capture images of Earth clear enough to make out a person walking on the ground, thus making it useful for many applications, including military and intelligence.

The Medium Aperture Camera (MAC) satellite is being developed by the wholly-owned Government company Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB) and a Korean company.

"MACSAT's main function will be to capture digital images at a 2.5 metre resolution," said ATSB managing director Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad.

This means the camera will be able to distinguish between objects 2.5m apart, enabling it to see objects such as houses, cars and people.

"The pictures will be very sharp and can be used for many purposes including urban planning, land use and national security," Sabirin said.

Sabirin said Malaysia had to develop its own technology for high-resolution satellite imaging as advanced countries were reluctant to sell such technology.

"No one is going to sell you this kind of technology because they are using it for their own military. Sp the only way is to develop our own."

MACSAT will also be the first satellite to orbit the Earth along the Equator so it will be called "Neqo" (Near Equatorial Low Earth Orbit) satellite.

Its "footprint path", or coverage area, will be nine degrees north and south of the Equator, tracking at 7.5km per second.

Other satellites move in polar orbits (north/south), as the industrialised countries which first developed them had little interest in data from the equatorial area.

"As a Neqo satellite, MACSAT will meet Malaysia's immediate needs since we are located along the Equator," said Sabirin.

"It will also benefit other equatorial countries, which are mainly developing countries."

A Neqo satellite would pass over any given spot on the equator more frequently than others, thus providing constant data streams.

MACSAT will have a lifespan of at least three years.

Next month, the satellite's engineering model will be brought to the ATSB facility here from Korea, where it was built.

From then till the scheduled take-off in 2004, ATSB will be using the engineering model to build a qualification or testing model, and finally the actual flight model.

It will be the first time a Malaysian satellite is in the country, as the country's other satellites were wholly developed overseas," Sabirin added.

ATSB also hopes to finalise its selection of a launch service provider for the take-off.

Sabirin said there was little interest in equatorial orbit launches, as most launch companies were developed for polar orbits.

"However, we have identified a few US and Russian companies and we hope to finalise a provider soon."

A check at the ATSB website showed that the Korean partner was SaTReC Initiative Co, Ltd. in South Korea. Sixteen ATSB engineers are working on the satellite in Korea.

MACSAT's other applications, as listed on the website, include insurance assessment, disaster response, monitoring of shipping routes, oil spills, marine ecosystems, and mapping of terrain, forests and water sources.

Malaysia's first two satellites, MEASAT and TiungSAT-1, were for communications and earth observation.