Mar 29, Kathmandu- In space science, Nepal has so far launched two satellites. These satellites have been launched at the initiative of Nepal Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and some private organizations/companies.

Nepal has shown its presence in space science with Sanosat-1 made by Orion Space and Nepali Sat-1 made in an initiative with NIST and scientist Abhash Maske (Space Institute of Nepal).

Nepal will soon launch the Munal satellite with the help of India. After that, some satellites including Danfe, Nepali Sat-2 are also preparing for launch.

However, these two satellites (Sanosat-1/Nepali Sat-2) that have been launched have not been officially registered in the name of Nepal. These satellites have been launched under the name of another country. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has been doing the work of registering all objects launched into space. This includes satellites, probes, landers, crews, and more.

According to scientist Abhash Maske, Nepali SAT-1 is registered in the name of Japan and Sanosat-1 in Spain. He said that since Nepal did not take the lead in this field, it was forced to register in the name of other countries.

Jiten Thapa, engineer of Orion Space, says that this will affect the pride of the country. "We know that those satellites were made by Nepal. But the license is in the name of other countries. If the concerned authorities do not pay attention, they are forced to get licenses from other countries," he says.

Although they tried to register Sanosat-1 in the name of Nepal, they said that due to the delay on the part of Nepal government due to covid, they had to rely on others. But he says that it does not make a difference in ownership.

"Even if the satellites we built are in the name of others, ownership is not affected. Because in the name of whom the license is taken, they and we have an agreement. It's just that the license for our satellite should be in our name."