A Malaysian remote sensing satellite named RazakSAT has been launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, according to a local newspaper on Wednesday.

The 180 kilogram satellite entered the Near Equatorial Orbit directly 20 minutes after being launched on Tuesday, The Star said.

Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili who witnessed the launching at Guam near Kwajalein Atoll, said that the satellite could observe weather phenomena as it covered 70 percent of ocean.

He said that some countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America had expressed their interest in using the images captured by RazakSAT.

RazakSAT's high resolution camera could produce images from space for precision farming, landscape mapping, disaster mitigation, study of meteorological phenomena, and urban and road network planning.

The satellite was named after Malaysia's second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, who was the late father of current Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

RazakSAT would be controlled from the Mission Control Station and Image Receiving and Processing Station in Malaysia.

Source: Xinhua