Jad Al-Qadi, head of the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, confirmed that the Malaysian satellite (Mesat-3), which is out of orbit, is being monitored through the space debris monitoring station in Kattameya, which was launched in 2020, to be the first station of this kind in North Africa and the Middle East to monitor space debris. space debris.
Al-Qadi said – in a press statement today, Tuesday – that the research team at the institute is conducting orbital calculations and monitoring plans for the Malaysian satellite Mesat-3 and the surrounding area, where successful observations of the satellite were taken, and the results of monitoring and data analysis showed the beginning of the stability of the satellite’s orbit at the radius. Orbital is 42,268 km.
He added that the orbital calculations resulting from the observations taken from the space debris monitoring station in Kattameya revealed the presence of the Russian satellite (Yamal-601) near it with a difference of 30 arc seconds at the straight ascent.
He explained that by studying the possibility of a collision between them, it was found that they reached the closest point between them in orbit at a distance of 136 km at exactly two o’clock in the afternoon on August 31, last August.
He pointed out that during the coming period, periodic observations will be taken to follow the orbit of the moon Mesat-3 and the surrounding area, within the framework of monitoring and periodic follow-up of the communications satellite belt in general and the Egyptian satellites in particular from the optical monitoring station for space debris and satellites in Kattameya, which is affiliated with the National Institute for Astronomical Research And in light of the Egyptian strategy for scientific research 2030.
It is worth noting that the problem began to appear in the orbit of the moon Mesat-3 last June 21, which led to the disruption of service to its customers and an attempt was made to bring it under ground control on June 24, but it did not work for long, and Mesat-3 was launched on December 11, 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In Kazakhstan at the orbital position 91.4 east, the mass of the moon at the time of launch was 4766 kg.
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