Dewa Satellite Launch Postponed Due To Bad Weather

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (Dewa) launch of the second satellite has been rescheduled to Friday, April 14 now, due to unfavourable weather conditions once again. The launch of a second satellite was originally planned for Tuesday, April 11, but was postponed once and rescheduled for Wednesday, April 12.

Dewa Sat-2 will be blasting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US.

Dewa SAT-2 nanosatellite was designed and developed at Dewa’s Research and Development Centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in cooperation with NanoAvionics in Lithuania. Dewa-SAT2 features a high-resolution camera (4.7 meters) that will be used for Earth observation missions.

The high-resolution camera provides continuous line-scan imaging in 7 spectral bands from approximately 500km orbit. The new satellite is also equipped with Infrared equipment to measure greenhouse gases. Whereas, Dewa’s second nanosatellite, Sat-2, is part of their Space-D programme.

Dewa Sat-2 images — when combined with Internet of Things (IoT) measurements from Dewa Sat-1 — will enable the authority to improve the operational performance of power generation and water desalination plants.

These two nanosatellites will provide accurate estimates of seawater temperature, seawater salinity, detection of red tide, as well as fog monitoring and forecasting.