Article Posted on : - Nov 18, 2010

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia plans to put into orbit two Earth observation satellites of Nigeria next month, the Russian Foreign Minister has said.

The two satellites – NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X – will be launched to a solar-synchronized orbit by a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr heavy carrier rocket, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

“We are planning to launch two Nigerian satellites on board our carrier (rocket) in December,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the news agency after a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Odein Ajumogobia in Abuja on Wednesday.

The NigeriaSat-2 is the second high-resolution Earth mapping satellite after NigeriaSat-1 which was launched in 2003.

The NigeriaSat-2 will be primarily used for resource management and mapping of the Nigerian territory.

The other satellite – NigeriaSat-X – will be launched into the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, where it will assist with disaster relief and global environmental monitoring campaigns along with some other countries.