Ecuador launches second nano-satellite

Ecuador's Civilian Space Agency (EXA) successfully launched the second nano-satellite into space early Thursday, the government-run news agency Andes reported. The "Krysaor" satellite was launched aboard a Russian-built Dnepr RS-20B rocket that blasted off from the Dombarovsky launch site in Russia's southeastern Orenburg region. "Krysaor has been put into orbit. The mission is successful," EXA's director Ronnie Nader was quoted as saying. Experts at the EXA, led by Nader, monitored the launch from a ground control station in Guayaquil in southwestern Ecuador, according to Andes. In April, the South American country launched its first nano- satellite "Pegaso," a 10x10 centimeter cube weighing 2.1 kilograms, to broadcast images in real time for educational purposes. A month later, however, "Pegaso" collided with debris from an old Russian rocket, and the EXA announced in September that the device had vanished. "Krysaor," like its predecessor, is equipped with a video camera, but with a higher resolution, more advanced solar panels, and a high-speed digital broadcasting system that "can transmit data a thousand times faster" than Pegaso, Nader said.