Chinese Government provides RMB 300 million grant for EgyptSat 2 Project (Linked to Record ID#65872 and ID#65874)

On November 2, 2016, Egypt’s second satellite, EgyptSat 2 (also known as MisrSat 2), was formally approved by the Egyptian Ministry of Commerce and entered the feasibility study stage of the project (see Record ID#65872).

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) hired China International Tendering Company, China Academy of Space Technology, and the Aerospace Dongfanghong Company to carry out the feasibility study.

Then, on August 13, 2018, Egypt's Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, and the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt signed an RMB 300 million ($45 million) grant agreement — on behalf of their respective governments — for the EgyptSat 2 Project.

The grant proceeds were drawn from an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) that the two governments signed on September 5, 2017.

The purpose of this project was to construct a small remote sensing satellite with a designed service life of five years, a ground measurement and control station with a design service life of fifteen years, and a set of ground application systems.

The satellite was expected be small high-resolution remote sensing satellite with the main mission of transmitting satellite imagery to help in several fields including agriculture, urban planning, weather forecasting, and natural disaster readiness.

The satellite design work was to be carried out simultaneously in China and Egypt, and the assembly work was to be carried out in Egypt's first satellite assembly and integration test center built with Chinese Government assistance (see Record ID#59501).

Satellite design and assembly were originally expected to take 35 months, and the satellite was originally expected to be launched in China 36 months later.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) was the general contractor responsible for project implementation. On January 21, 2019, a project implementation agreement was signed. Then, on September 8, 2019, the Egyptian Space Agency announced the start of project implementation. The implementation of the project was subsequently postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 20, 2021, the CEO of the Egyptian Space Agency, Mohammed al Quosi, announced that Egypt would launch the satellite during the first quarter of 2023. Then, on June 25, 2023, a completion ceremony for the assembly and testing of the MisrSat 2 satellite took place.

Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat and Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang attended the ceremony.

Rania Al-Mashat noted at the ceremony that the MisrSat II satellite and satellite assembly, integration and test (AIT) center had greatly boosted Egypt's capacities in satellite research, development, measurement and control, making Egypt a leading African country in the aerospace field.

On December 4, 2023, the MisrSat-2 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China onboard the Long March-2C carrier rocket.