Bhutan has achieved another historical and significant technological milestone with the successful launch of the second satellite. The Nano-satellite, namely INDIA-BHUTAN SAT, launched today has a vast capacity for application which will benefit various sectors in the country. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering presented the message from His Majesty The King, thanking the Indian Government, the Indian Space Research Organization, and the team for the successful launch of the satellite during the launch event.
Bhutan made its first entry into Space with the launch of the BHUTAN-1 cube-sat, an educational satellite weighing about a kilogram more than four years ago. It was more of a capacity development project for the Bhutanese space engineers. But, more than this, it provided the confidence to start a bigger endeavour for Bhutan.
The satellite launched today weighs 17.8 kg and has two major functions. The primary capability is to acquire optical images using a very high-resolution camera and the second is to broadcast text messages from the orbit for amateur radio users.
“We have a camera payload on this present satellite and this is going to give us images of the earth at 29 meters resolution. Earlier, we didn’t have these features on the satellite. We are going to use it for real-time applications in various sectors such as the department of forest and parks services, department of Human Settlement, department of geology and mines, and department of energy,” said Yeshey Choden, a Satellite Engineer with the DITT at the MoIC.
The INDIA-BHUTAN SAT is a Joint Satellite Project between the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Government of India. The plan was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi following his visit to the country in 2019.
It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at Sriharikota along with India’s Earth Observation Satellite-03 also known as Oceansat-3 and seven other nanosatellites. Bhutanese journalists who are currently in India through the Indian Embassy also witnessed the historic launch.
Kesang Wangmo
Edited by Sonam
