The UAE has announced the launch date for the region's most advanced imaging satellite.
MBZ-Sat will be launched in October, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, confirmed on Wednesday.
He spoke after visiting the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, where he met staff and approved the plans.
“We are proud that the satellite was built by a team of Emirati engineers and we thank the bright minds behind these great achievements that are turning our ambitions into reality,” Sheikh Hamdan wrote on X.
Named after President Sheikh Mohamed, the satellite has been under development at MBRSC in Dubai for years.
MBZ-Sat will offer high resolution images round-the-clock for entities worldwide.
About 90 per cent of the satellite’s mechanical structures and most of its electronic modules were locally manufactured.
On Wednesday, Sheikh Hamdan was briefed on the satellite's development, its capabilities, and the strategic plan for its deployment.
“We are on the brink of a transformative era in space exploration, and the upcoming launch of MBZ-Sat marks a pivotal moment that affirms the UAE’s growing influence as a significant global contributor to the field of space technology,” he said.
Sheikh Hamdan also visited the clean room holding MBZ-Sat and signed a plaque bearing the satellite’s logo.
With development completed, the next phase for the satellite involves environmental testing, which is crucial to ensuring its resilience and functionality in space. Once this is successfully carried out, final launch preparations will commence.
The satellite is equipped with one of the most powerful cameras developed in the region, and can capture high-resolution images with unprecedented clarity, covering areas less than one square metre in size.
This imagery solution can support a wide variety of uses within mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, navigation, infrastructure management and disaster relief efforts.
Following its launch, MBZ-Sat will be operated and monitored from the Mission Control Centre at MBRSC.
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The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Atalanta v Juventus (6pm)
AC Milan v Napoli (9pm)
Torino v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
Sunday
Bologna v Parma (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Lazio (6pm)
Roma v Brescia (6pm)
Verona v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Udinese (9pm)
Lecce v Cagliari (11.45pm)
Monday
SPAL v Genoa (11.45pm)
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Abu Dhabi race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,400m
6pm: Liwa Oasis (PA) Group 2 | Dh300,000 | 1,400m
6.30pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 (PA) Group 3 | Dh300,000 | 2,200m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap | Dh70,000 | 1,600m
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) | Dh80,000 | 2,200m
FINAL SCORES
Fujairah 130 for 8 in 20 overs
(Sandy Sandeep 29, Hamdan Tahir 26 no, Umair Ali 2-15)
Sharjah 131 for 8 in 19.3 overs
(Kashif Daud 51, Umair Ali 20, Rohan Mustafa 2-17, Sabir Rao 2-26)
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
