Malaysias’s blasted off into space at 11.35 am Malaysian time on July 15 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean’s Marshall Islands. Launch was delayed for four hours due to a malfunction in the equipment used to load helium into the launcher.

Twenty minutes into launch, the 180kg satellite entered orbit at 685Km above earth, to become the world’s first remote sensing satellite launched into Near Equatorial Orbit (NEqO).

The launch at Omelek Island using Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)’s launcher Falcon 1 went smoothly after the four hour delay. RazakSAT carries a high resolution camera that can take images from space for different applications to benefit not only Malaysia, but countries along the equatorial region.

The orbital location will enable an increased frequency of image observation, and the images can be applied to precision farming, landscape mapping, forest biomass, marine spatial planning, disaster mitigation, urban and road network planning. Whilst other satellites operate on polar orbit (Sun Synchronous Orbit), the RazakSAT operates at NEqO and will cover 70 percent of the oceans, where weather phenomena such as the ocean cooling La Nina originate.

This is a huge step for SpaceX who designed the rocket, marking the firm’s first successful commercial space shot. Founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk, a co-founder of the electronic payment service PayPal, SpaceX is aiming to offer low-cost launches to space with its Falcon 1 rocket and a larger version called Falcon 9.

Photo: RazakSAT on the launch pad at U.S. Army’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Defense Test Site on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll, a launch site that sits about 2,500 miles (4,023 km) southwest of Hawaii.

Credit: www.parabolicarc.com