EAST MALAYSIA STATE WILL SOON USE REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY VIA RAZAKSAT

KUCHING (Malaysia), Aug 14 (Bernama) -- Come December, Sarawak, an East
Malaysia state, will be able to utilise remote sensing technology for better
development planning.

That's when RazakSAT, the country's first remote sensing satellite becomes
fully operational, Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Fadilah
Yusof said Friday.

He said the ministry would provide the services to potential clients,
including
state governments and the private sector.

Among others, the services are data collection in the implementation of the
Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), forest management, land cover
classification, flood mitigation, food security, urban planning, natural
resources and diasaster management.

"It will take about three months from its July 14 launch for RazakSAT to do
a
final calibration and fine-tuning before the remote sensing technology provides
us with more tools on how to manage our state and its resources
efficiently and economically," noted Fadilah.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the Remote Sensing Technology and
Related Technology Consumers Awareness Workshop, jointly organised by the
ministry, state planning unit in the Chief Minister's Department and Malaysian
Remote Sensing Agency here.

He said the ministry was also looking at assisting the state's fisheries
industry and fishermen associations on profiling and forecasting the existence
of planktons via the satellite, which orbited around the equator 14 times daily,
as it would save fuel and manpower resources.

So far, he said, several countries throughout the equatorial belt, including
Southeast Asia and Africa, had shown interest in using the technology being
developed by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd, through a collaboration of ATSB
with Satrec Initiative Ltd of South Korea, with the agency as RazakSAT'S client.

-- BERNAMA