A Peruvian satellite was launched on Thursday by U.S. space agency NASA, the third such satellite developed in the Andean country to be put into space in recent months.
The satellite, the UAP SAT-1, was developed by faculty and students at the Universidad Alas Peruanas in Lima. The university began the project in 2010.
The total cost of the project was some $1.6 million, according to daily Gestion. The launch of the small, cubic satellite, which weighed only a few pounds, was on the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, which took off from the NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The UAP SAT-1 satellite is expected to be in orbit for 8 months.
The mission of the satellite is to collect information on climate. Academics involved in developing the satellite called the launch a “milestone” in Peru’s aerospace and satellite development.
Two other Peruvian-made satellites were launched recently by academics from Peru’s Catholic University. However, the UAP SAT-1 is the first Peruvian satellite to be sent into space with NASA.
The Catholic University’s PUCP-Sat1 and Pocket-PUCP were sent into space late last year on board a Russian rocket.
