On the date of 18th April at 2:31 AM, Nepal had launched its nanosatellite Nepali-sat-1 from Virginia, USA under the BIRDS project of the Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT). Kyushu Institute of Technology is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology having the project BIRDS which has been designed in association with the United Nations aiming to help countries to launch their first satellite.
The satellite weighs about 1.33kg and is just around 30 percent larger than a Rubik’s cube. While it’s a nano satellite, NepaliSat-1 will send data of disseminating information about weather forecasting, Traffic, Communication, Land Topography as needed to get data for rapid development of Nepal as well as to know the future natural disasters.
It is sad to know that it cannot fulfill all the national and public demand or need with its nano-satellite said Dr. Rabindra Prasad Dhakal. Besides Nepal, Sri Lanka and Japan will be launching their nanosatellites.
Meanwhile, Nepal also officially launched its first media telecommunication satellite project on March 12, 2018. The high-performance c/Ku Band satellite is likely to be launched by 2022. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has signed an agreement with French aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space for the same.
With the implementation of the project, Nepal will have access to a high-speed internet facility and will make significant advancements in appropriate fields such as e-learning, e-governance, and agriculture among others.
