KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — DAP lawmakers accused Putrajaya today of attempting to capitalise on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disaster to justify a risky satellite project that they say could cost taxpayers RM1 billion.

Setampin lawmaker Julian Tan and Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim also claimed that the RazakSat-2, a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) satellite that Malaysia plans to launch in two years, has limited imaging capabilities that make it incapable of assisting in cases like the MH370 plane disappearance.

“Angkasa (National Space Agency) stated that RazakSat-2 has the capabilities to capture images as small as one metre… if this is true then RazakSat-2 cannot assist in locating debris as one square metre is only a dot.

“Even Google Earth has a better spatial resolution, which can detect objects as small as 0.65 metre or even smaller,” Sim told a press conference in Parliament here.

Malay daily Berita Harian recently quoted Angkasa director Dr Ahmad Noordin as saying that RazakSat-2 is scheduled for launching in 2016 and “is seen as capable in assisting the country capture images specifically for development planning but also for cases involving plane disappearances and disasters.”

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