[SatNews] Egypt announced on Thursday it has indefinitely postponed the launch of a research satellite scheduled for 2013.

The head of Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Ayman al-Desouky, did not give a new date for the launch of EgyptSat 2. In statements quoted by MENA, he said 60 percent of the components and software of the new satellite will be Egyptian-made. Al-Desouky added that the new phase of the country's space program relies on specialized Egyptian industries. The satellite will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technologies that guarantee accurate photography so the satellite can upload space pictures. In October 2010, Egypt declared it had lost control of EgyptSat 1, after losing contact three months earlier. The satellite was launched on a Russian rocket on April 17, 2007, from the Bakinour base in Kazakhstan after the process had been delayed twice.