MMSAT-1 (also known as Lawkanat-1) was a Burmese

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

launched to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) on 20 February 2021 and deployed into orbit from the ISS on 22 March 2021. It was Myanmar's first microsatellite and jointly built by Japan's

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

and

Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University (; abbreviated MAEU) is a specialized public university of aerospace engineering, located in Meiktila, Myanmar. The university offers undergraduate diploma, bachelor's degree and post-graduate diploma pro ...

. It was delivered to the ISS by the American cargo spacecraft

Cygnus NG-15 Cygnus NG-15, previously known as OA-15, was the fifteenth launch of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fourteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) cont ...

. MMSAT-1 was temporarily held on ISS and its deployment was delayed due to the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when Elections in Myanmar, democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's milita ...

. It was deployed into orbit on 22 March 2021. MMSAT-1 was intended to be used not only for environmental observation and mineral exploration, but also for natural disaster control, but human rights activists worried that the satellite could be used for military purposes. According to Hokkaido University, as Myanmar did not yet have the necessary equipment, the satellite would initially be operated from Japan. MMSAT-1 reentered the atmosphere on 4 April 2023.

References

Earth observation satellites Satellites of Myanmar 2021 in Myanmar Spacecraft launched in 2021 Spacecraft which reentered in 2023 Satellites deployed from the International Space Station {{Space-stub