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Dubai satellite launch further postponed to March 22

Dubai - The launch date was later changed to March 21 due to a surge in voltage

The launch of DMSat-1 has been further postponed to March 22, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has announced in a tweet.

More details will be announced shortly, the authority said.

The Dubai Municipality and the MBRSC were initially all set to launch DMSat-1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10.07am on March 20.

The launch date was later changed to March 21 due to a surge in voltage, the Russian space agency Roscosmos had announced.

It was to blast off to space onboard a Soyuz 2.1 rocket launcher.

Satellite to monitor source of air pollutants

The miniature environment monitoring satellite will detect the source of air pollutants and concentration of dust and its impact on public health in the UAE.

Weighing only 15kg, DMSat-1 can perform tasks done by much larger satellites.

A team of specialised engineers and project supervisors from the MBRSC has been posted at the launch site at Baikonur since February 25.

The satellite was placed on the launch rocket Soyuz 2.1a on March 7 for initial preparations and tests.

These tests were conducted until March 12.

The satellite, which was manufactured in 18 months, will be capable of covering an area of up to 80,000 square kilometres each day.

Data will be stored on the onboard storage system and downloaded to MBRSC's ground station.

The launch of the satellite strengthens the UAE's implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, which requires the country to generate data on greenhouse gas emissions and build national capacities to study global warming.

On a local level, the DMSat-1 seeks to calculate the rate of carbon dioxide emissions in relation to GDP as outlined in the Dubai 2021 Plan.