Six Angolan specialists undergoing Masters Programme at the Higher Institute for Space Aeronautics(ISAE-SUPAERO) in Toulouse, France will have the opportunity to monitor the construction of the Angosat-2 payload, which is nearing completion, as well as the construction phases of the Angosat-3 satellite. French satellite manufacturing company, Airbus, has partnership contracts for the construction of both satellites.

The Masters’ programme is solely sponsored by the Russian government as part of its compensations to Angola and include training in different areas of space science and space-related technologies such as space system construction and analysis, Space Mission Analysis, Study of Space Innovation Procedures and Trends, Research and Development, Space Project Management and Market Analysis, Orbital Mechanics, Navigability Space, Space Engineering in support of Space Mission Applications and Services. It also involves complementary pre-school activities in nanosatellites, rockets, interplanetary exploration and aeromodelling.

Speaking about their experiences so far in the programme, the students who are specialists engineers in Electronics, Telecommunication, Information Systems, Computer Science and Aeronautics, said the programme correlates with government strategy as it allows for the knowledge transfer needed to tackle Angolan challenges.

“Space applications and services has wide applicability, from the agriculture sector, border control, sea monitoring, among others”, said Massala Nsungani, an Electro-technician partaking in the programme.

Another beneficiary of the programme, Aldair Gonçalves, said the courses are intensive. According to him, programming for most, is made using software such as Matlab, Omnet ++, Python and others developed by the university or National Center for Space Studies (CNES).

The students hope to maximise the knowledge acquired from the programme by contributing to the development of the country.

With a payload constructed by the French company, Airbus, the AngoSat -2, a replacement for the failed AngoSat 1, is funded and built by Russia alongside pieces of training for Angolan engineers as stated in the complementary protocol between Angola and the Russian Federation.

The satellite will be launched in Kazakhstan in 2022.

As reported that the new satellite(Angosat 2) will be 200 kilograms heavier than the failed Angosat 1, with more programmed frequencies and high-speed, high-quality broadband Internet.