Business & Money | Tuesday 30 October, 2018 4:06 am |

It's proud and historic moment for the UAE as its first 100 per cent Emirati-made satellite, KhalifaSat, has lifted off into space from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan.

The launch of the Earth observation satellite took place on October 29, at 8.08am UAE-time onboard the H2-A rocket, which was also carrying Japan's environment satellite, GoSat-2, along with KhalifaSat. 

The launch was broadcast live on the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre's (MBRSC) website and it showed that GoSat-2 was successfully separated from the rocket and reached the orbit at 8.25am. However, the separation of KhalifaSat and its arrival on its desired orbit destination happened in 100 minutes from 8.25am, according to the live stream. 

A team of 70 Emirati engineers from MBRSC built KhalifaSat, which will be the third satellite the centre has launched into space. DubaiSat1 was launched in 2009 and DubaiSat2 in 2013. Commercial and communication satellites by the UAE - YahSat-1,2 and Thuraya 1,2,3 - have also been launched before. 

However, KhalifaSat is set to be the most advanced Earth observation satellite for the UAE as it will take high-quality images.  

Timeline of the launch(UAE time)

9.53 am: Tanegashima Space Centre says they are about to send footage from cameras on the launch vehicle

9.49am: KhalifaSat's insertion into orbit successful

KhalifaSat separates from the rocket. The satellite reaches orbit at 613km above Earth's surface

9.35am: The H2-A No 40 flight proceeds beyond the tracking range. The Tanageshma Space Center team stands by to acquire signals from the launch vehicle

8.25am: KhalifaSat to separate and insert into orbit in 100minutes

8.25 am: GoSat-2 successfully separates from the rocket and has inserted into orbit 

8.23 am: The rocket's second stage separates from the main rocket 

8.21 am: The flight status is normal as rocket has 570km, travelling at a velocity of 5.3km/sec

8.16 am: The rocket reaches 390km above Earth's surface. Trajectory remains normal. 

8.13 am: The first engine is cut off and separation to occur at 6 minutes and 46 seconds, followed by ignition of Engine 2 to place GoSat-2 at its desired orbit. Engine 2 to cut off at 15 minutes into flight. 

8.06 am: T-2 minutes to liftoff

8.08am: KhalifaSat blasts off into space onboard the H2-A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. 

Japan's environment satellite GoSat-2 is also onboard. The rocket will accelerate for 4 minutes and 20 seconds before initial separation.

KhalifaSat is a top trend on Twitter in the UAE with more than 2,500 tweets in English and over 15,000 Arabic tweets in just within the first hour of the launch. Millions of viewers were expected to tune in to the live stream on MBRSC's website and it seems their website started crashing as server stopped responding for a while during the launch. However, the live stream on their YouTube channel is working smoothly.

KhalifaSat is the most advanced Earth observation satellite a team of Emirati engineers have ever developed.