Sisi attaches importance to space technologies: official

CAIRO - 3 October 2018: The adviser to the Russian Space Agency, Hussein Shafei reiterated on Wednesday President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's attention of developing space science technologies to serve the country's development strategy.

Speaking to MENA, Shafei said the President is keen on developing the country's capabilities in the space science technology to be able to launch satellites from Egyptian lands.

As part of the political leadership's support of scientific research mechanisms especially in the space domain, a law setting up the Egyptian space agency was enacted.

The Egyptian agency was a necessity to help Egypt enter space blocs and cooperate with scientific research bodies inside and outside to serve development goals, he added.

He said EgyptSat A satellite will be launched within the coming months from a Russian base for remote sensing and scientific purposes.

It is Egypt's third Earth remote-sounding satellite. The satellite is jointly built by Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences together with RKK Energiya in Russia.

The satellite is an improved version of EgyptSat 2 and is also based on RKK Energiya's 559GK bus, which inherits technologies from their USP platform.

The satellite features SPD-70 electric engines using Xenon. It features an improved opto-electronic system and onboard control system, high-speed on-board radio link and solar cells with increased efficiency.