FG Launches Nigeriasat-2 in October 2010

National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has said it has concluded arrangement to formally launch the NigerSat-2 high resolution satellite and NigeriaSat-X satellite on 29th October 2010, this year with a view to replacing the NigeriaSat-1 in orbit.
 
The new satellites are said to be more advanced compared with the missing NigeriaSat-1 and would send down high resolution imagery of 2.5m in the panchromatic mode and 5m in the multi-spectral mode.
 
In a speech at the opening ceremony of a workshop on Atmospheric Research organised by the Centre for Basic Space Science (CBSS) in Enugu, the NASRDA Director General, Seidu Mohammed, said the NigerSat-2 would be capable of imaging in the aerial stereo and strip modes, adding that these modes and the high resolution of data would provide a valuable asses for various application areas which NigeriaSat-1 could not provide.
 
While applauding the achievements of the CBSS in the past years, Mohammed used the forum to equally urge them to work towards putting Nigeria on the world map as well as making noticeable impacts on the Nigerian populace through applied research findings and applications.
 

The NASRDA boss urged the CBSS to also beef up their efforts in Atmospheric Sciences especially now that government is emphasising on the upper and lower atmospheric research in collaboration with Nigerian universities.
 
In order to enhance the research and productivity efforts of the CBSS, Mohammed said his agency had approved the setting up this year of a well equipped library and development of a Telescope platform at the Nsukka permanent site.
 
Also, speaking the CBSS Director, Prof Pius Okeke, said the essence of the workshop was to gather great scholars in the nation's universities and research institutes working in various areas of atmospheric sciences to interact with CBSS staff, adding that research collaborators in charge of operations of CBSS-NASRDA instruments including NECOP stations, Microwave, Magnetometers, SID monitors, Aerosol collaborators, near-earth orbit researchers and GPS atmospheric monitors were equally invited.
 
Their major assignments in the workshop according to Okeke would be assess what is being done with copious data being acquired in the past four years; to discuss the most modern techniques for analysis of these data and how to relate results to solving our environmental problems as well as to prepare researchers for the African IHY workshop planned to take place in October in Abuja, at the request of the United Nations (UN).
 
According to him, so far the CBSS has restricted her Atmospheric Research to mainly ground based instruments at altitudes not exceeding 150m, noting however that one of their regions for operation, the lower atmosphere extends up to 20km; while the second domain, the upper atmosphere extends to 1000km.