Article Posted on : - Apr 20, 2011

The 105 kg micro-satellite, X-Sat, would be one of the three satellites riding on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C16 of the ISRO.

SINGAPORE (PTI): Singapore's first satellite will be launched on Wednesday on an Indian rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikotta, India.

The 105 kg micro-satellite, X-Sat, would be one of the three satellites riding on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C16 of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while the other two units are built by Russia and India, The Straits Times reported Wednesday.

X-Sat, built by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), would orbit for three years at a height of 800-km and take photographs to measure soil erosion and environmental changes.

It would relay the data to the NTU and the National University of Singapore Centre for remote imaging, sensing and processing.

X-Sat's launch would make Singapore one of the first South-East Asian countries to have a locally designed and built satellite in space, according to the report.

The daily cited experts as saying that the delay in launching of X-Sat would have increased its cost to Singapore dollars 40 million from original Singapore dollars 10 million.

The launch of X-Sat, work on which began nine years ago, was delayed due to technical issues in 2007 and last year.