The Council of Ministers has approved on Wednesday establishing a space agency aimed at scientific research following years of preparation, according to Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar. The new law has been referred to the parliament for final agreement in hopes to expose Egypt to the world community of space technology. According to Abdel Ghaffar’s statements in a press conference, the year 2019 will witness the establishment of the first satellite center in Egypt. Adding that, in 2020, a satellite, designed and manufactured in Egypt, will be launched to space. The launching of the new Egyptian satellite was amongst the bundle of agreements signed with China during President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s recent participation in the 9th BRICS Summit. According to the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Science (NARSS), the satellite, called EgyptSat 2, will be manufactured, assembled and tested in Egypt. Egypt has launched its first observational satellite with Ukraine in October 2007, for scientific research; however, communication with the satellite was lost. Nevertheless, Egypt remained committed to a space vision, launching another optical imaging satellite, EgyptSat-2, in early 2014, months after President Sisi announced the launch of a space…
