ROOM
60
Astronautics
Mongolia and Bangladesh, and within Africa, the
Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo
State, Nigeria and All Nations University College,
Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana. The BIRDS
Project has yielded two cubesats for both Ghana
and Nigeria, named Nigeria EduSAT-1.
The world needs to understand that such a
revolution in the space industry for this part of the
world will require working with African nations as
a whole. Gone are the days of regional monopoly
- each region depends on technologies from other
regions of the world for space exploration, and
Africa has to be a part of this.
Africa is now developing the knowledge and
technology to ensure the success of future space
missions. For example, all five cubesats developed
in the region were built by Africans - and more
revolutionary projects are coming from the
region soon.
One example is the development of the world’s
largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array
or SKA project, which is currently being built in
South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.
The existing infrastructure and skilled
workforce, both inside the burgeoning space
industry and in supporting industries, will
enable Africa to position herself as a regional
hub of space science and technology. This can
be used as a basis for strengthening ties with
industries in established spacefaring nations,
and for developing links with other emerging
national space initiatives across the world.
As much as the space industry in other parts
of the world focuses on exploring other planets,
including trying to make Mars like Earth, the
space industry in Africa is focused on not
making Earth more like Mars - this is evident in
the goals and objectives of her space missions.
Most of the investments in the region focus
on Earth observations, using space technology
to tackle challenges in security, telemedicine,
climate change, agriculture, disaster monitoring,
and communications. For example, one of
Africa’s key players in the space industry, Nigeria
Communication Satellite or NIGCOMSAT, is a
pioneer in providing improved internet access to
every part of the continent including rural areas.
Recently, Elon Musk elucidated SpaceX’s plan to
colonise Mars and planets in the Trappist system,
and discover solar systems that could support
human life. This seems to be the latest exciting
project in the global space industry. Then, there
is the African Space Policy, which could be the
next big thing. The African Union (AU) Heads of
State and Government, during their Twenty-Sixth
Ordinary Session on 31 January 2016 in Addis
Ababa, adopted the African Space Policy and
Strategy as the first of several concrete steps to
realise an African Outer Space Program.
It has been suggested that one such avenue
through which African regional cooperation
can be encouraged is the establishment of an
African-led regional space programme managed
by an African Space Agency.
In August 2010, the African Union Ministers
of Communication and Information Technology
called for the AU Commission to conduct a
feasibility study for the establishment of such an
agency, called AfriSpace. Through funding from
the European Union, a European consortium
The different categories
of radiation experienced
on Earth, Mars, on the
Moon and in open space
Nigeria EduSAT-1.
The BIRDS project.
As the second
largest
continent,
Africa leaves
a very big
market open
for commercial
space start-
ups to
maximise
profit on
investment
