NARSS Puts EgyptSat-2 Launch on Indefinite Hiatus

[Satellite TODAY 04-25-11] Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS) Director Ayman Ad-Dosouqi has indefinitely postponed the scheduled 2013 launch of the MisrSat-2/EgyptSat-2 research satellite, according to a statement issued April 22 to the Qatar News Agency.
    NARSS did not give a specific reason for the postponement and Ad-Dosouqi did not set a new launch date. In the statement, Ad-Dosouqi said 60 percent of EgyptSat-2’s hardware would "mainly depend on purely Egyptian designs and programs produced by the specialized industrialization organs across Egypt. The new satellite will be designed according to the state-of-the-art and advanced space technology potentials and would be equipped with highly advanced microscopic and photographing technologies coping with the development requirements in touristic [sic], population, agricultural and industrial fields."
    The satellite’s operator, Egyptsat, has remained relatively quiet in the market over the past year. In October, the operator announced it had lost control of EgyptSat-1 after losing contact with the spacecraft three months earlier. The satellite was launched from Kazakhstan’s Bakinour launch facility in April 2007.