Sumbandilasat delayed again

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 04 Jun 2007

The launch of Sumbandilasat, SA's second satellite, later this month has again been postponed, says the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Spokesperson Kristin Klose says Russia asked government to postpone the planned shipment of the satellite to Russia "pending the finalisation of official documentation in Russia.

"It is envisaged that an alternative launch date will be identified in the coming weeks," she adds. "The postponement will not result in any disruptions or financial losses to SA's satellite programme."

The 80kg micro-satellite was to have been flown to Murmansk, in northern Russia, in coming days, to be mated to a former naval nuclear missile. This would then have been loaded aboard an atomic-powered submarine for launch in the Barents Sea, near the North Pole.

The little satellite was originally set to launch in December, the dead of the Northern winter. This was postponed to Easter and was then delayed into the northern high-polar summer, believed to be the safest time to launch.

SunSpace and Information Systems built Sumbandilasat, a combination of the Venda for "lead the way", and "sat", under contract from the University of Stellenbosch for the DST.

SunSpace export manager Ron Olivier previously said Sumbandilasat cost R11 million to build.