Mauritius joined the space race as it launched its first satellite successfully from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on June 3, 2021. MIR SAT 1 (a CubeSat), which stands for Mauritius Imagery and Radiotelecommunication Satellite, was launched on board the SpaceX Falcon 9. According to NASA, the nano satellite was planned to arrive at the orbiting laboratory on June 5.
LIFTOFF! 🚀 The @SpaceX uncrewed cargo Dragon spacecraft has begun its journey to the @Space_Station carrying a variety of research and technology demonstrations.
Arrival to the orbiting laboratory is planned for Saturday, June 5 at ~5am ET: https://t.co/TXVHZqY3lP pic.twitter.com/c4wgoFxe5e
— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) June 3, 2021
Mauritius is planning to communicate with the satellite with its ground station at the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) in Ebène. As per reports, they shall be able to make contact with the satellite about four to five times a day.
Mauritius had won the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) KiboCUBE Programme in 2018. The opportunity to build and deploy a 1U Cube Satellite through the International Space Station (ISS) was later given to Mauritius by the Japanese space agency, JAXA.
Mauritius plans to use the data received by the satellite to help with prevention and management of disasters. It will also help in surveying marine resources by mapping the oceans. According to the Space in Africa, a news website, the MIR-SAT1 was built by a team of engineers at MRIC with substantial help from Mauritius’ Amateur Radio Society.
African nations have launched a total of 44 satellites till date. MIR-SAT1, the first for Mauritius, is Africa’s second satellite in 2021, after Tunisia. Tunisia had placed its first satellite, Challenge One, in March 2021.
