Macau’s first satellite planned for launch in 2021

The State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences of the Macau University of Science and Technology expects to launch Macau’s first satellite before the end of 2021, according to a report by TDM.
The Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), together with the Macau SAR Government, the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Macau and the China National Space Administration (CNSA), launched the city’s first satellite project in October 2019.
Previously, the research team planned to launch the satellite in 2020 or 2021.
On the sidelines of yesterday’s first conference of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum of Boao Forum for Asia, Zhang Keke, chief scientist of the project, said that the launch has been postponed due to the pandemic.
According to Zhang, the research team will still try to launch the satellite at the end of 2021.
Not only will this satellite be the first for Macau, according to MUST, it will also be the “world’s first and only scientific exploration satellite so far to be placed in a near-equatorial orbit to monitor the geomagnetic field and space environment of the near-equator South Atlantic Anomaly.” JZ