On the sidelines of the 4th China-Arab States Expo, which took place recently in Ningxia, China, the Egyptian Space Agency and the China National pace Administration (CNSA) proceeded to launch the second implementation phase of the Egyptian satellite project which is the construction of “MisrSat-II”. The first phase, which took place in January 2019, focused on closing the financing.
Financed by China for $140 million, and paid over three settlements since 2016, this satellite will help Egypt achieve its development plans in many areas, according to Ahmed al-Rafie, the project leader. He also said that Egyptian and Chinese engineers will collaborate on the development of the satellite project and the construction of the Egyptian assembly, integration and test center.
“The design phases will run in parallel in Egypt and China, but the assembly and integration of the satellite will be done in the Egyptian Center for assembly, testing and integration of satellites. This will provide Egypt with experience in the development of satellite space systems,” he said.
The construction of the MisrSat-II will take up to 35 months for a lifetime in the space of five years.
According to Liao Liqiang, Chinese ambassador to Egypt, Egypt will be the first African country to have complete capabilities of assembly, testing and integration of satellites at the end of the MisrSat-II project. He will also be the first to have achieved a space cooperation with China under the “Belt and Road” Initiative.
