Nigeria to launch satellites in May

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) on Thursday in Abuja said that NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X would be launched in May. Felix Ale, the head of media and corporate affairs of NASRDA, made this known in an interview. He, however, said that the specific date for the launch of the satellites was yet to be fixed. Mr. Ale said that the agency was doing everything possible to ensure that the satellites were launched "within the window period given by the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), the manufacturers of NigeriaSat-2. If they cannot be launched within the first quarter of 2011, they will be launched in the second quarter," he said.

Mr. Ale said that going by what SSTL said, its technical partners told the Disaster Monitoring Consolation Meeting in London last week that the satellites might be launched in May. Two earth observation satellites were expected to have been launched in Russia in the first quarter of 2011.

Preparatory to the launch, NARSDA on Feb. 4 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DMC International Imaging (DMCII) of UK for the distribution of imageries from the two satellites. Seidu Mohammed, the director-general of NASRDA, had said on the occasion that the UK-based DMCII Ltd.