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SHAH ALAM: Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) can proudly say that it is the first local university that has a nanosatellite in the space.
UiTMSAT-1 is being transported to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that was launched yesterday from Cape Canaveral Air Force, Florida, United States. The commercial resupply mission is expected to reach the space station with its payload, including UiTMSAT-1 on 2 July.
The Vice Chancellor of UiT, Professor Emeritus Datuk Hassan Said said: UiTMSAT-1 marks another milestone for the public university and sets the stage for that Malaysia becomes "a space nation"
"We did not think we could do it," he said before watching the live stream of the launch on the Shah Alam campus.
Professor Hassan added that it was also an important moment for Malaysia
The nanosatellite is the result of Malaysia's collaboration with Japan, Bhutan and the Philippines in the Joint project Global Multi-Nation BIRDS-2. ] Bhutan and the Philippines also developed one nanosatellite each, which is also en route to the International Space Station with UiTMSAT-1 .
The nanosatellites or CubeSats were developed and tested by 10 postgraduate students – two Malaysians, two from the Philippines, three Japanese and three from Bhutan – at the Engineering Laboratory for Environmental Interactions of Spacecraft, Institute of Technology of Kyushu, Japan
The Malaysians of the team, students of UiTM Syazana Basyirah Mohammad Zaki and Muhammad Hasif Azami has been working on this project since December 2016.
The nanosatellite is a miniature instrument to low cost for space research. The data collected can be used for research and pave the way for initiatives led by industry and government, said Mohamad Huzaimy Jusoh, director of the UiTM Satellite Communications Center
Each CubeSat measuring 10 cm x 10 cm and weighing 1 kg will be put into orbit from the International Space Station in mid-August.
* See full report in StarEducate next Sunday .
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