EIAST signs contract for launch of DubaiSat-2

The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has signed a contract with the Moscow-based Kosmotras (ISCK) for the launch of DubaiSat-2, the United Arab Emirates' second remote-sensing satellite.
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The contract was signed by Ahmed Al Mansoori, director general of EIAST, and Dr. Vladimir Andreev, director general of Kosmotras. 

DubaiSat-2, which will be used for remote sensing, weighs around 300 kg (a third more than its older sister) and will be placed into a 600 km sun-synchronous orbit.

The new satellite will also orbit slightly closer to Earth than DubaiSat-1 and will be inclined at an angle aligned with the UAE's coastline to capture more pictures in one pass.

DubaiSat-2 is due to be launched atop a Dnepr rocket from Yasny cosmodrome in northern Russia by the fourth quarter of 2011.