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 orbits 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.
