NAIROBI, Kenya
One by one, the satellites –
each of them encrusted with a hodge-podge of solar panels and other gizmos –
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 – but
one of them was different.
It was the first such
spacecraft ever developed by the African country of Senegal.
A small CubeSat called GaindeSAT-1A, it will provide earth
observation and telecommunications services. Senegal’s president called it a
big step towards “technological sovereignty”.
The cost of launching a
satellite has fallen significantly in recent years, says Kwaku Sumah,
founder and managing director at Spacehubs Africa, a space consultancy.
“That reduction in cost has
opened the market up,” he adds. “These smaller nations… now have the
opportunity to get involved.”
To date, a total of 17 African
countries have put more than 60 satellites into orbit and, 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.
And yet, the continent
currently has no space launch facilities of its own.
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.
Can more African nations chart
their own way into orbit – and beyond?
“It’s important for African
countries to have their own satellites,” says Mr Sumah. He argues that it means
better control over the technology and easier access to satellite data.
This information could help
Africans monitor crops, detect threats posed by extreme weather such as floods,
or improve telecommunications in remote areas, he adds.
But boldly going to space is
still seen as “something for the elite” 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 “very slow”
overall, she adds. |
| Senegal's first satellite hitched a lift on a SpaceX launcher in August |
Given the massive threat
posed to the continent by 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’t be helpful: “We’ve got to look at the
challenges that we have in Africa and find ways of solving those.”
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 data provided by Eumetsat, a European satellite agency, to
monitor a major dust storm in March. “We were able to tell the direction of
this dust storm,” she says.
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. “It will help us improve our early warning systems,” adds Ms
Kimani, noting that the collaboration with Eumetsat has been “very efficient
and effective”.
Climate change brings
meteorological threats that can emerge rapidly – from major storms to extreme
drought. “The intensity of these hazards… is changing,” 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.
She also argues that Kenya –
which put its first operational earth observation satellite into orbit last
year – would benefit from having more of its own meteorological spacecraft in
the future. As would other African countries in general. “Only Africa understands
her own needs,” says Ms Kimani.
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.
Some countries have sent
students and engineers abroad to pick up space tech know-how. “The problem is,
when these guys come back, there is no laboratory, no facility for them,” says
Mr Oniosun.
Senegal’s 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.
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
“critical diplomatic tool”, says Mr Oniosun. It makes him “a little worried”,
he admits.
Observers have suggested that
African space programmes are not just about getting African nations into space
– they are also, to some extent, arenas where some of the world’s most powerful countries compete with one another.
Mr Sumah is positive about the
situation. “We can… play these different powers against each other to get the
best deals,” he says.
Officials in both the US and
China have considered the “strategic” implications of involving themselves in
African space endeavours, says Julie Klinger, at the University of Delaware.
“That does bring with it an
intensifying need for updating global treaties and strategies around
maintaining a peaceful and manageable space environment,” she adds.
But there are opportunities,
too. Dr Klinger notes that space launches from equatorial regions – which may not require as much fuel – could mean that
African space ports have an important role to play in the coming decades.
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.
Ultimately, we can expect to
see rising activity in space from African nations. “We’ve got close to 80
satellites that are currently in development,” says Mr Oniosun, “I think the
future of the industry is very bright.”
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