KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will develop a micro satellite for a variety of applications including military and intelligence gathering in collaboration with South Korea, a report said Saturday.

The RM50 million (US$13 million) Medium Aperture Camera satellite which would be launched in 2004, is being developed by state-owned Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd. (ATSB) and SaTReC Initiative Company Ltd. of South Korea.

"The pictures will be very sharp and can be used for many purposes including urban planning, land use and national security," Ahmad Sabirin Arshad, ATSB managing director was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times .

Own technology

Ahmad said Malaysia had to develop its own technology for high resolution satellite imaging as advanced countries were reluctant to sell it.

"No one is going to sell you this kind of technology because they are using it for their own military," he said.

Sixteen ATSB engineers are working on the project in South Korea.

Malaysia's first two satellites, Measat and TiungSAT-1, are used for communications and earth observation. — AFP