{"id":99250,"date":"2024-10-15T08:04:24","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/15\/african-nations-race-to-put-satellites-in-space\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T08:04:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:04:24","slug":"african-nations-race-to-put-satellites-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/african-nations-race-to-put-satellites-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"African nations race to put satellites in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

One by one, the satellites \u2013 each of them encrusted with a hodge-podge of solar panels and other gizmos \u2013 detached from their mothership.<\/p>\n

They had blasted off from Earth just an hour earlier, on 16 August. The 116 satellites onboard the launch vehicle were mostly designed and built by Western nations and businesses \u2013 but one of them was different.<\/p>\n

It was the first such spacecraft ever developed by the African country of Senegal.<\/p>\n

A small\u00a0CubeSat\u00a0called GaindeSAT-1A, it will provide earth observation and telecommunications services. Senegal\u2019s president called it a big step towards \u201ctechnological sovereignty\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cost of launching a satellite\u00a0has fallen significantly in recent years, says Kwaku Sumah, founder and managing director at Spacehubs Africa, a space consultancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat reduction in cost has opened the market up,\u201d he adds. \u201cThese smaller nations\u2026 now have the opportunity to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, a total of 17 African countries have put\u00a0more than 60 satellites into orbit<\/a>\u00a0and, along with Senegal, both Djibouti and Zimbabwe have also watched their first satellites become operational during the past 12 months. Dozens more African satellites are expected to go into orbit in the coming years.<\/p>\n

And yet, the continent currently has no space launch facilities of its own.<\/p>\n

Plus, powerful countries elsewhere in the world are arguably using nascent African space programmes as a means of building relationships and asserting their geopolitical dominance more broadly.<\/p>\n

Can more African nations chart their own way into orbit \u2013 and beyond?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for African countries to have their own satellites,\u201d says Mr Sumah. He argues that it means better control over the technology and easier access to satellite data.<\/p>\n

This information could help Africans monitor crops, detect threats posed by extreme weather such as floods, or improve telecommunications in remote areas, he adds.<\/p>\n

But boldly going to space is still seen as \u201csomething for the elite\u201d in Africa, says Jessie Ndaba, co-founder and managing director at Astrofica Technologies, a space tech firm in South Africa that designs satellites. Business at her firm remains \u201cvery slow\u201d overall, she adds.<\/p>\n

Given the massive\u00a0threat posed to the continent<\/a>\u00a0by climate change, space tech should be used to monitor food and resources, she suggests. An African space race to reach the moon or Mars, in contrast, wouldn\u2019t be helpful: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to look at the challenges that we have in Africa and find ways of solving those.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sarah Kimani, of the Kenyan Meteorological Department, satellites have proved invaluable in helping her and her colleagues track dangerous weather conditions. She recalls using earth observation\u00a0data provided by Eumetsat<\/a>, a European satellite agency, to monitor a major dust storm in March. \u201cWe were able to tell the direction of this dust storm,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Later this year, she and her colleagues will begin receiving data from the latest generation of Eumetsat spacecraft, which will provide wildfire and lightning monitoring tools among other benefits. \u201cIt will help us improve our early warning systems,\u201d adds Ms Kimani, noting that the collaboration with Eumetsat has been \u201cvery efficient and effective\u201d.<\/p>\n

Climate change brings meteorological threats that can emerge rapidly \u2013 from major storms to extreme drought. \u201cThe intensity of these hazards\u2026 is changing,\u201d says Ms Kimani, noting that satellite data that could be updated as frequently as every five minutes, or less, would help meteorologists track such phenomena.<\/p>\n

She also argues that Kenya \u2013 which put its first operational earth observation satellite into orbit last year \u2013 would benefit from having more of its own meteorological spacecraft in the future. As would other African countries in general. \u201cOnly Africa understands her own needs,\u201d says Ms Kimani.<\/p>\n

Currently, many African nations with young space programmes are dependent on foreign technology and experts, says Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of Space in Africa, a market research and consulting company.<\/p>\n

Some countries have sent students and engineers abroad to pick up space tech know-how. \u201cThe problem is, when these guys come back, there is no laboratory, no facility for them,\u201d says Mr Oniosun.<\/p>\n

Senegal\u2019s new satellite was built by Senegalese technicians. While not wanting to detract from their significant achievement, it is worth noting that development of the satellite was made possible through a partnership with a French university, and that the spacecraft was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California.<\/p>\n

Europe, China and the US have all involved themselves in numerous African space programmes. This has helped boost African technology into orbit, for sure, but it has also served as a \u201ccritical diplomatic tool\u201d, says Mr Oniosun. It makes him \u201ca little worried\u201d, he admits.<\/p>\n

Observers have suggested that African space programmes are not just about getting African nations into space \u2013 they are also, to some extent, arenas where some of the world\u2019s most\u00a0powerful countries compete with one another.<\/p>\n

Mr Sumah is positive about the situation. \u201cWe can\u2026 play these different powers against each other to get the best deals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Officials in both the US and China have considered the \u201cstrategic\u201d implications of involving themselves in African space endeavours, says Julie Klinger, at the University of Delaware.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does bring with it an intensifying need for updating global treaties and strategies around maintaining a peaceful and manageable space environment,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

But there are opportunities, too. Dr Klinger notes that space launches from equatorial regions \u2013\u00a0which may not require as much fuel\u00a0\u2013 could mean that African space ports have an important role to play in the coming decades.<\/p>\n

The Luigi Broglio Space Center, an old Italian-built space port including a sea platform off the coast of Kenya, could be brought back into service one day, for example. The last launches there took place in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we can expect to see rising activity in space from African nations. \u201cWe\u2019ve got close to 80 satellites that are currently in development,\u201d says Mr Oniosun, \u201cI think the future of the industry is very bright.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One by one, the satellites \u2013 each of them encrusted with a hodge-podge of solar panels and other gizmos \u2013 detached from their mothership. They had blasted off from Earth just an hour earlier, on 16 August. The 116 satellites onboard the launch vehicle were mostly designed and built by Western nations and businesses \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}