S05 CAF 1 2020 Satellite technologies_Layout 1 27/02/2020 14:48 Page 14
The African space industry
SATELLITE TECHNOLOGIES
Why more African countries are joining the space race Photo: EUTELSAT
Afrian nations have seen a record number of satellite launches and contract announcements in the last year as the continent has experienced a sharp increase in countries making their first foray into space – and more additions to that number are due soon, as Barry Mansfield explains.
EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite installed on Ariane 5’s SYLDA (Kourou, French Guiana).
F
The formation of the African Space Agency means that Africans can expect much-improved connectivity across the continent 14 Communications Africa Issue 1 2020
ROM 1998 TO May 2019, African states launched 35 satellites, intended mostly for communications, earth observation, technology demonstrations, scientific experiments, military radar and educational projects. In fact, the African space industry is already worth about £5.7bn (US$7.4bn) – a figure expected to increase by 40 per cent to £7.9bn (US$10.3bn) by 2024. The formation of the African Space Agency (set to be headquartered in Egypt) by the African Union
(AU) means that Africans can expect much-improved connectivity across the continent. 2019 brought a sharp increase in the number of space-faring African nations. Sudan launched a civil and military remote sensing satellite last December, with the government planning ground facilities in Khartoum North. Rwanda’s first satellite, RWASAT-1, launched from Japan last September (it was developed at the University of Tokyo by 15 Rwandan engineers), holds a communication payload for
collecting and forwarding data to remote monitoring stations on the ground – partly for environmental and disaster management purposes. It also holds two cameras for earth observation. Ethiopia’s first remote sensing satellite, ETRSS-1, was launched from China’s Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre last December. This multi-spectral civil earth observation satellite will transmit data to Ethiopian researchers and public bodies for weather pattern monitoring, agricultural planning, drought early warning systems, mining activities and forestry
www.communicationsafrica.com
