National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences


National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences is the pioneering Egyptian institution in the field of satellite remote sensing.

History

NARSS is an outgrowth of Remote Sensing Center, established in 1971 as an American-Egyptian joint project, they were affiliated with the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. In 1994 the authority was established as an organization under the State Ministry of Scientific Research to promote the use of state of the art space technology for the development of the country and introducing High Tech capabilities to regional planning and other applications.
NARSS includes two major sectors: Remote Sensing and Space Sciences. The sector of remote sensing works on the use of data provided by earth observation satellites and various airborne sensors to produce maps and spatial data for the evaluation and monitoring of natural resources, natural hazards and management environmental. The sector of space sciences is concerned with the development of sensors for earth observation to be mounted on satellites and with all the problems involved with monitoring communication with satellites and retrieving the information for processing, and ultimately on launching an Egyptian remote sensing satellite.

Facilities

Both the headquarters and the New Cairo space control station are located in Cairo. The receiving station is located in Aswan.

Satellites

was a remote sensing satellite that was launched on 17 April 2007 at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Control and communication was lost July 2010.The satellite weighed 100 kg and contained a multi-spectral imager for Earth observations.
EgyptSat 2 was an imaging satellite built by RSC Energia that launched on 16 April 2014 at Baikonur Cosmodrome. The satellite was lost in April 2015 when a dual failure in the flight control system occurred.
EgyptSat-A is a replacement imaging satellite launched on 21 February 2019 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, paid for by insurance for the loss of EgyptSat 2.