Ajit Karn
Kenya will launch its first operational satellite the following week, marking a major milestone for the country’s space program, the government announced on Monday.
Taifa-1, or Nation-1 in Swahili, will be launched on April 10 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
“The mission is an important milestone,” the defense ministry and Kenya Space Agency said in a joint statement, adding that it would considerably contribute to Kenya’s “burgeoning space economy.”
The observation satellite is “completely designed and developed” by Kenyan technologists and will be used, among other things, to collect data on agriculture and food security, according to the statement.
In collaboration with a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer, testing and production of the components were conducted.
Kenya, an economic superpower in East Africa, is enduring its worst drought in decades due to five failed rainy seasons.
The satellite launch will contribute to African nations’ efforts to advance scientific innovation and space programs.
In 1998, Egypt was the first African nation to launch a satellite into orbit.
Kenya’s first experimental nanosatellite was launched in 2018 from the International Space Station.
According to Space in Africa, a Nigeria-based company that monitors African space programmes, at least thirteen African nations had produced 48 satellites by 2022.
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According to Space in Africa, as of November 2022, more than fifty African satellites had been launched, although none from African soil.
In January, the government of Djibouti signed a memorandum of understanding with a Hong Kong-based corporation to construct a $1 billion, five-year-long commercial spaceport.
