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SANSA
SET TO GROW BIG The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the greatest crisis ever faced by commercial aviation. However, the space sector is rising above this crisis, both literally and figuratively. In a rare break of good news, the South African government has shown admirable commitment to the future by committing large scale funding for the continued development of South Africa’s space capability.
ABOVE: SANSA success as a development agency has been rewarded with a massive R4.47 billion fund allocation.
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FlightCom Magazine
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NTERNATIONALLY, space is now seen as the aerospace industry’s fastest-growing opportunity, with a combined $10 billion pipeline of long-term opportunities and several large proposals awaiting responses that total around $1 billion in the near term. The USA has led a massive surge in space investment, from the new U.S. Space Force to a NASA mission to return Americans to the Moon in the coming years. Significantly, there is a commercial race to establish low Earth orbit (LEO) communication and Earth observation services. This ‘return to space’ has not gone unnoticed by the South African government which has included the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) - an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), in its Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium (SIDS). THE SIDS FUNDING In July 2020 the integrity of SANSA and its achievements were recognised by the South African government and partner investors who have approved a substantial R4.47 billion in additional funding for the next three years. This will enable the agency to undertake hugely exciting new projects that will have demonstrable long-term benefits for not just South Africa, but the rest of Africa, and indeed mankind. At the beginning of 2020 SANSA submitted a proposal to the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium (SIDS). The SIDS is an intervention, introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, to focus investments in infrastructure as part of South Africa’s economic recovery plan. Under the SIDS process,
